- Date Of Birth: August 12, 1953
- Date Of Death: August 19, 2018
- State: Michigan
Roxanne, age 65, died from a heart attack on Sunday, August 19, 2018, while on a mission trip in Mexico. She was born on August 12, 1953, in Kalamazoo, MI a daughter of George and Maxine (Jungel) Moran and had been a lifelong area resident.
Roxanne grew up in the Oakwood neighborhood and graduated from Lawrence High School in 1971. She met the love of her life, Thomas S. Fawley, in 1970 and they were married in Kalamazoo in 1972. Roxanne and Tom’s first home was in Oakwood and they raised their children at their home in Portage for 24 years before moving to Texas Township in 2001. Roxanne and Tom welcomed their firstborn, Thomas Casey, in 1976 and brought home their second child Suzanne in 1977. Their daughter Jaynie joined the family in 1982, and Mia completed the Fawley family in 1990.
Roxanne worked at Boonzaaijer Bakery from the time she was 18 until she was 30 years old and she specialized in decorating elaborate cakes, a gift she shared with friends and family throughout her lifetime. Roxanne spent the majority of her children’s growing-up years as a stay-at-home mom and professional portrait photographer. She also worked for several years at an art rubber stamp store called Stamped in Time in Portage, and she was known for spending her entire paycheck on rubber stamps and art supplies. For the past 20 years, friends and family have received intricate and elaborate hand-made cards for every birthday and special event.
Roxanne and Tom attended New Day Community Church in Kalamazoo, where she was active in ministry and a cherished friend to many. She was a Sunday school teacher at New Day and was involved in the Celebrate Recovery program at Life Changing Ministries in Portage where she ministered to sexual abuse survivors. Roxanne also sat on the board of directors for the Kalamazoo Anti-Human Trafficking Coalition (KAHTC), a community member organization that focuses on raising awareness of human trafficking and advocating for services in the Kalamazoo area. Roxanne authored and published a book about her own childhood abuse in 2014, which she titled But I Liked It . . . and Other Lies: Overcoming the Shame of Sexual Abuse. She loved meeting readers at book signing events across the country and she always carried copies to give away as the Spirit led. All proceeds of her book’s sales were and always will be donated to KAHTC.
Roxanne spent the final days of her life on a mission trip with her church, working through Kaleo International in the city of Jojulta in Morelos, Mexico. In true Roxanne form, she was often found apart from her team, following the Spirit’s lead to approach individuals in the streets, trying with basic Spanish to make sure they knew that Jesus loved them. She spent most of her final days praying, worshiping, and pouring God’s love into the community they were serving in Jojulta. Roxanne died suddenly of a heart attack at sunrise on Sunday morning, August 19th and we take great comfort and joy in knowing just how jubilant her welcome into Heaven was!
All of those who had the pleasure of knowing Roxanne knew a few things about her intimately. First, that she loved her family, second, she loved her God, and third, she loved whoever happened to be next to her at any given moment. Roxanne poured love and acceptance and grace into every person she ever came into contact with. Her family would joke that “Roxanne never met a stranger.” Having lived a life where she relied heavily on God’s love, grace, provision, and redemption, she had an excess of each to give away to others without hesitation and without the expectation of getting anything in return. In Roxanne’s later life, her greatest joy was her time spent with her granddaughter Alice (Berdie) Chesser, but she also enjoyed spending quality time with her plethora of close friends, many of whom she’d known since childhood. Roxanne loved thrift shopping and putting together colorful, eccentric outfits that matched her exuberant spirit. Roxanne also loved to travel and was able to go on many vacations with friends in recent years to see parts of the country she’d never been to. Roxanne and Tom also got to go on the dream cruise of their lifetime to Alaska in July of 2017 for their 45th wedding anniversary.
Roxanne’s passing was sudden and unexpected, but she leaves her family and friends with a lifetime of memories and a tradition of inclusion, unconditional acceptance, and love for everyone she interacted with. Roxanne lived a life of love for Jesus and was passionate in her mission that everyone else know and love Him as well as she did. Her family takes great pleasure in knowing that she was serving that mission when she passed. Roxanne was always excited for and hopeful about what Heaven would be like, and her family is greatly comforted by knowing that she is whole, healthy, without pain, and dancing and singing tirelessly with her Lord. We look forward to being reunited with her someday in Heaven and while we miss her deeply and mourn the loss of her bright and loving presence in our lives, we know she is HAPPY.
Roxanne was preceded in death by her father. On July 14, 1972, she married Thomas S. Fawley who survives. Also surviving are four children, Thomas Casey Fawley, Suzanne (David) Bos, Jaynie Fawley, and Mia (Kyle) Fawley-Chesser; four grandchildren, Isaac, Raegan, and Brianna Bos and Alice Chesser; mother, Maxine Moran; three siblings, Marty (Jackie) Moran, Kathy Paul, and Kevin (Karen) Moran; five brothers- and sisters-in-law, Susan (Mike) Reck, Nancy (Keith) Carmen, Mike (Emmy) Fawley, Kathy (Tom) Fawley-Huss, and Greg Fawley; and many nieces and nephews.
