Rexalee Goecker

Rexalee died on July 23, 2024 at her home on Dauphin Island, Alabama surrounded by friends and family. She was just shy of her 83rd birthday. Rexalee was born on August 21, 1941, to Rexford and Eugenie Angeline Westhauser in West Branch, Michigan. The middle of three kids, she enjoyed growing up in the 40s and 50s on the banks of Lake Michigan in the old family homestead near the railroad tracks. The Westhauser family was full of laughs and shenanigans, helping out at the family nursery. She graduated from New Troy High School and attended Alma College where she majored in teaching. She also met James William Goecker at this time who was attending Central Michigan University. They married June 8, 1963, and both worked on their master's degrees in teaching at Western Michigan University. They settled in Portage, Michigan on Austin Lake. Woodhams Avenue would be their home for the next 47 years, where wonderful memories were made swimming, boating, fishing, and enjoying Austin Lake sunsets and neighbors. After a series of heart-breaking miscarriages, they adopted William James in 1968 and Rexene Kay in 1971. Margene Ellen (Meg) did not come along until 1978 when they were able to get pregnant. As a stay-at-home mom and then preschool teacher for 20 years, Rexalee has touched an uncountable number of kid's lives, while keeping her busy household together. Rexalee was active in the community, always volunteering for any committee or group that she believed in. She never missed her kids' sporting events, dance events, or any activity, and dedicated her creativity and kindness to numerous boy scout and girl scout meetings and travel. She retired in 2001, and they built their dream house on Austin Lake just down the road, enjoying sunsets, pontoon boat rides, and their beloved neighbor friends. She was always up for any adventure and travel from shark cage diving in Australia, to deep sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, rodeos in Las Vagas, exploring the Galapagos Islands, climbing to Machu Picchu, and rafting trips down the Colorado River.

In 2015, they left their beloved Michigan to move to Alabama to be near their grandchildren, where she put her full energy into her love of being a grandmother. She was the life of the party with her wit and sarcasm, and demanding nature. She spent the last years of her life enjoying the views of the Dauphin Island Bridge, helping to raise her grandchildren, and volunteering right up to the end for the Dauphin Island Medical Clinic. Her life is an example of how to live and love with humor, kindness for others, and dedication to community and family.

She is preceded in death by parents (Rexford and Eugenie Westhauser), brother (William Eugene Westhauser), sister (Sue Ellen Westhauser), husband (James William Goecker), and son (William James Goecker). She is survived by her daughters Meg Goecker and Rexene Wood, and five granddaughters, Hannah Grace, Angeline Hope, and Molly Elise Wood and Amelia and Meegan Hansen.

Please join us in a celebration of her life on Sunday October 13th, between 1-3pm at the Vicksburg United Methodist Church (217 S Main St, Vicksburg, MI 49097). We will have a ceremony followed by a light lunch.

In lieu of flowers, we request that donations be made to the Dauphin Island Foundation, dedicated for the Dauphin Island Medical (1008 Alabama Ave, Dauphin Island, AL 36528)--- where Rexalee spent the last years of her life volunteering so the Island Community could have local, loving health care.