Juanita Ebbagene “Rusty” Blaylock Nikolauk was born on April 29, 1933, in San Angelo, Texas in the old Shannon Hospital to W.A. Blaylock and Alpha Spencer Blaylock of Robert Lee, Texas. She passed away on December 13, 2021 at the age of 88 after a truly blessed life.
Graveside service will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, December 16th at the Eldorado Cemetery in Eldorado, Texas.
She is survived by sons Mike and wife Wendi, Bill and wife Debbie, Brett and wife Jess all of San Angelo. She is also survived by grandchildren John Arly Nikolauk and wife Cathy, Kaitlyn Nikolauk, Mark Nikolauk, Garrison Nikolauk, Riley Nikolauk and 4 great grandchildren Emily, Lizzy, Gabe and Lexi Nikolauk. She will always be remembered by so many dear friends not only in Eldorado, but worldwide through their military deployments.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband of 63 years John Nikolauk, sisters Judy Blaylock and Dr. Jerry Blaylock, and one brother Billy Frank Blaylock, son Mark Nikolauk, and granddaughter Brianna Nikolauk.
She spent her early days in Robert Lee, Texas until her family moved to Bailey Ranch in Schleicher County and attended school in Eldorado, Texas.
She was known by all for her amazing cooking and practical jokes. Her baklava and tuna fish were just two of her specialties. Rusty provided meals not only for her family, but also for the boy’s friends before football games in high school. Rusty was a rabid football fan. If there was a game on she was watching it. She cooked and delivered meals for the elderly in Eldorado until she herself turned 83 and could no longer make the deliveries.
One funny story about her deliveries was when she got pulled over by a new deputy in Eldorado for exceeding the speed limit. She told the officer, with a smile, “she would be glad to accept the ticket, but he needed to zip up his zipper first.”
She also provided the meals for the judges for the Goodfellow AFB chili cook off from 1973 when the chili cook-off started until the early 2000s.
Rusty loved being a military wife. Although she graduated from Baylor University with an education degree, she married John and chose to be come a dedicated military wife for 33 wonderful years. They were stationed in Germany, Washington D.C., Florida and finally Goodfellow AFB when she and the boys got to move back to her hometown of Eldorado when John was deployed to Vietnam. Even though the military kept them moving, she was very proud that all four of her sons were able to graduate from Eldorado High School.
Rusty was a devout Christian and member of the First Baptist Church of Eldorado, devoted to serving her Lord by helping those He put in her path. She loved helping in the background, helping prepare and serve meals for whatever church occasion arose. Even though she could not remember names in her last days, she did remember to say “God Bless You “ when visitors left her room. Her family remembers her by this saying, “Loved her Lord and was a blessing to all others through him.”
Rusty will be missed by so many. Her quick wit and ability to make people feel at ease made her so many friends during her lifetime. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Meals for the Elderly/Eldorado Service Center. Online condolences may be made at lovefuneralhome.net.
