Denise "Boots" Rexwinkle

1955 - 2014

Denise "Boots" Viola Rexwinkle, 58, of Chugiak, Alaska was called home July 21, 2014 after a valiant battle with Pancreatic Cancer. Boots was born September 10, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois to Frantie and Harold Tarter. Boots also lived in Grand Junction, Colorado for a large portion of her life. A memorial service will be held at Janssen's Evergreen Memorial Chapel, 737 E Street, Anchorage, on Sunday, July 27, 2014 at 2pm. She was a thoughtful and selfless person that always put others before herself. From unique and customized gifts that Boots would somehow manage to always perfectly match them to their recipient, to her ability to remember small details about someone that would allow her to say or do something that meant the world to someone else. Boots was having the time of her life in Alaska, living out other people's vacations from fishing in the summer, hunting Musk Ox in the winter, to making a point of driving to the end of as many roads as she could in the last frontier. Denise was a devoted wife, loving mother, a phenomenal grandmother, an excellent friend, and above all else, an amazing human being. She attended Catholic elementary school in the Melrose Park area in Illinois before moving to Welch, Oklahoma. She went to high school in Welch where one of her friends, Dixie Neal, kept telling her that she just had to meet her uncle Randy. She invited him to her freshman graduation dance and that started a lifetime together. Boots and Randy were married September 1, 1972 in Welch, Oklahoma and lived in Edna, Kansas. They moved to Caney Kansas and lived there several years before making a big move in 1979 and ended up in Grand Junction, Colorado. After living there for 28 years and making many good friends and memories, they made the really big move to Alaska in 2005. They made their home in Chugiak where they enjoyed the country type atmosphere. Boots is survived by her husband, of 41 years, Randy Rexwinkle; son Rodney and wife Susy Michelle Barreiro; grandchildren Devon and Amber Rexwinkle; brother-in-laws Charles, Joe, and Dale Rexwinkle; and sisters in laws Carolyn Chips, Louise, and Lela. Boots was preceded in death by her grandson Cherokee Rexwinkle and her parents. The family has requested in lieu of flowers donations in her name be made to either; Campfire Alaska, 161 Klevin Street #100, Anchorage, Alaska 99508 (Campfireak.org) or The Children's Lunchbox, 7041 DeBarr Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99504 (Thechildrenslunchbox.org). The family would like to share with everyone something she had written, but passed before she could send it out. Titled Life Saver "You may have come to visit. You may have sent a card. You may have merely thought of me, or said a prayer to God. Whatever you may have done, it meant more than you know. I call you a Life Saver, 'cause that is what you are, you know. Thanks for Everything!" Arrangements are with Janssen Funeral Homes.