Maurice Mickelson Cavenee

Maurice Mickelson Cavenee, 79, passed away peacefully at the home of her daughter in
Portland, Oregon on February 4, 2015. Born in Thatcher, Arizona, on June 16, 1935, she was
the second child of John and Manuela Tanner Mickelson. Mrs. Cavenee was raised in Arizona in
the Gila Valley and attended Thatcher public schools. She also attended Eastern Arizona Junior College for two years and finished her education at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ.
During her tenure as a high school business teacher in California, she met and married William Lee Cavenee, her husband of 52 years. After living in California and Oregon for several years, the Cavenees moved to Casa Grande, Arizona where her husband was employed at Central Arizona College. Mrs. Cavenee is preceded in death by her husband, Bill and a brother, John Tanner Mickelson. She is survived by her four children: daughters, Gina Calderwood (Richard), Kristin Palmer, and sons, Mikkel (Lori), and David (Mary); 23 grandchildren and one greatgrandchild.
She is also survived by her two sisters, Connie Grossarth and Ann John (Stanley).
Mrs. Cavenee was well known throughout the Casa Grande area for her outstanding piano teaching and playing skills, which she readily shared with all. She and her husband went to Cambodia as humanitarian missionaries for 18 months and she taught English at Royal University. In 1999 they returned to help start a pediatric hospital.
Funeral services for Mrs. Cavenee will be held on Saturday, February 14th at 10:00 a.m. in the LDS Stake Center on 1555 N. Colorado St. in Casa Grande, AZ. Interment will follow at the
Thatcher, Arizona Cemetery at 5:00 p.m. on the same day. J. Warren Funeral Services, Cole & Maud the Gardens Chapel, is in charge of arrangements