She was born to Alvin and Mildred Partridge on August 31, 1942, the youngest of four children. June grew up in New Hampshire. She married Walter Kangas in 1959, began a family, and pursued a successful singing career.
She fronted June Kangas and the Boutin Brothers, and later Country Sunshine, who opened for Dolly Parton in Canaan, NH in 1973. Though singing was always a huge part of her life, June’s greatest joy was without doubt her family.
In the summer of 1974, June loaded up the kids in The Blue Gypsy, her VW van, and left New Hampshire for the Midwest, living first in Kansas, then Missouri. Those who knew her, however, will agree that she remained firmly a Yankee at heart. It was when June, by then single, finally settled in Nevada that she met the love of her life, “Pepsi” Joe O’Connor, whom she married on June 10, 1977, and remained beside until her death.
June was a keen gardener and an even better cook, though she never managed the art of scaling down as her children flew the nest one after another. She always cooked for an army and served as an honorary aunt for many children from the neighborhood and from her Sunday school class. There are many who loved June for her generosity and kind heart, her open door, and her table at which there was always an extra seat.
We will miss her beautiful singing, her smile, how she adopted anyone or anything in need, and the hundreds of knitted mittens and wooly hats she gifted to grandkids, friends, waifs, and strays. We will always miss her boundless affection, her salty humor, and her ability to call a spade a spade. We will miss so much about June. But most of all, we will miss the way she loved those closest to her without restraint or reason.
June is survived by her beloved husband Joe, her six children, William, Kathleen, Kelly, Dorreen, Bethany, and Tiffany, 12 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and her brother, Walter.
There will be a service to celebrate the life of June, the details of which will be determined at a later date.
Memorials are suggested in her memory to the Alzheimer’s Association c/o Ferry Funeral Home in Nevada.
In the summer of 1974, June loaded up the kids in The Blue Gypsy, her VW van, and left New Hampshire for the Midwest, living first in Kansas, then Missouri. Those who knew her, however, will agree that she remained firmly a Yankee at heart. It was when June, by then single, finally settled in Nevada that she met the love of her life, “Pepsi” Joe O’Connor, whom she married on June 10, 1977, and remained beside until her death.
June was a keen gardener and an even better cook, though she never managed the art of scaling down as her children flew the nest one after another. She always cooked for an army and served as an honorary aunt for many children from the neighborhood and from her Sunday school class. There are many who loved June for her generosity and kind heart, her open door, and her table at which there was always an extra seat.
We will miss her beautiful singing, her smile, how she adopted anyone or anything in need, and the hundreds of knitted mittens and wooly hats she gifted to grandkids, friends, waifs, and strays. We will always miss her boundless affection, her salty humor, and her ability to call a spade a spade. We will miss so much about June. But most of all, we will miss the way she loved those closest to her without restraint or reason.
June is survived by her beloved husband Joe, her six children, William, Kathleen, Kelly, Dorreen, Bethany, and Tiffany, 12 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, and her brother, Walter.
There will be a service to celebrate the life of June, the details of which will be determined at a later date.
Memorials are suggested in her memory to the Alzheimer’s Association c/o Ferry Funeral Home in Nevada.
.png)
%20(1)%20(1).jpg)
