Longtime resident of Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico, June Earline Knight de Leon died peacefully in her Chula Vista home on November 5, 2015, at the age of 79.
June was born December 22, 1935, in Beaumont, Texas, the daughter of Christine Collins and Harry Knight. She graduated from Beaumont High School in 1955 and attended Lamar College of Technology (later advanced to Lamar University), receiving a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 1967.
She married Joe Alex de Leon on April 21, 1957. She worked as a research chemist at the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston, staying at her new husband’s side while he completed medical school, internship, medical residency and cardiology residency. The couple moved to Port Arthur, Texas, where Dr. de Leon started a private practice and she set up their home. They raised a son, Mark, born in 1961 and a daughter, Christina, born in 1965.
June was an active member of the Jefferson County Medical Ladies Auxiliary, the Port Arthur Service League, the annual CavOILcade festival honoring the petroleum industry and Parent’s Teacher’s Association of the Port Arthur School District. She supported many charities there and helped fund students to attend schools and colleges.
She and her husband moved to Mexico in 1998, making their home in Chula Vista. She was a member of Laurie Smart’s Garden Grower’s, The Garden Guild and the Orchid Group. She truly enjoyed participating in these organizations, especially the luncheons and the Garden Guild’s annual flower show. She relished gardening and working with flowers all of her adult life, treasuring the many friends she met through sharing these interests. She donated generously to enable students to attend school and college in Mexico and towards the construction of a class room at the Conalep high school on the Liberamiento.
June is survived by her devoted husband of 59 years; son Mark and his wife, Sylvia, of San Angelo, Texas; daughter Christina and her husband Iain Richard Day, of Dallas, Texas; granddaughter Elizabeth de Leon Day; several aunts and uncles and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her half sister Elouise Purswell.
In addition to the celebration of June’s life held in Ajijic, Mexico, another will be held for family and friends at the Pompano Club in Port Neches, Texas on February 6, 2016 from 2-4pm.  Joe, Tina and Mark will be greeting all who wish to come.
Memorial donations in her name may be made to Chapala’s Tepehua Centro Comunitario A.C., Calle Ramon Chavez 16, or by contacting the center’s president Moonie King, at (376)763-5126 or moonie1935@yahoo.com.