June 9, 1960 – December 4, 2020
MONTAGUE – Christi Lea St. John passed peacefully from this life into the arms of her loving Heavenly Father on Dec. 4, 2020 in Nocona, TX.
A funeral service took place from 8-10 a.m. on Dec. 8 at the Bible Baptist Church of Bowie with Pastor Steve Summers officiating. Burial was at Salona Cemetery in the Salona community. The visitation was from 6-8 p.m. on Dec. 7 at the White Funeral Home in Bowie.
Pallbearers were Mark and Chad St. John, Larry Marshall, Gary Griswold, James Dick and Chad Summers. Honorary pallbearers were Herbert Reaves, Wade and Jases Brown, Tony Griswold and Darrell Bell.
Christi was born June 9, 1960 to Cecil Leon “Greek” Chokas and Frances Loraine Senn Chokas at the old Bowie Hospital in Bowie. On June 15, 1978 she married the love of her life, Randell St.John of Bowie. The couple raised their three children in the Bowie schools, which Christi loved. Christi never met a stranger and had an infectious laugh that rang through the school halls and every room she occupied. In the early years of their marriage, she was a homemaker and a member of the Bowie Lioness Club where she served faithfully beside her mother, Frances.
As years went by she subbed at the schools at whatever grade her children were in at the time. Bowie Jackrabbit blood ran deep in Christi and in the ’97-’98 school year she became a full-time Bowie Junior High aide, working in various positions. Many a student had her in, in-school suspension where she lovingly, but sternly directed them for more than 20 years. It was not uncommon for former students that are now grown to stop and talk to her wherever they ran into each other and filled her in on their lives and the impact that she had on them.
Christi was saved at Bible Baptist Church Nov. 14, 1993 and baptized there shortly after. She had been a member there since 1985 and taught Sunday school for many years. Children were her life.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Leon Chokas and Frances Chokas Cantrell Reaves, step-dad, Foy B. Cantrell, sister-in-law, Pat Hill, in-laws, Raymond and Cora St.John and all of her grandparents and aunts and uncles.
The family left to cherish her memory are husband, Randell St. John; daughter and son-in-law, Krystal and Larry Marshall; son and daughter-in-law Mark and Leigha St. John; son, Chad St. John and family; sister and brother-in-law, Janet and Gary Griswold and their family; brother, Gerald Chokas and his family; step-brother, Don Reaves and his family; step-dad, Herbert Reaves; grandchildren, Mason Marshall and Marleigh, Cora and Troy St.John; a host of Chokas and Senn cousins; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Dawayne and Lois St.John and family, brother-in-law, David St. John and family and Pat Hill’s family.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her name to the Bowie Junior High School Activity Fund or any fund benefiting the school.
Arrangements were entrusted to the White Funeral Home of Bowie.