June Shoffeitt: co-founded Shoffeitt Gourmet Seasonings

Longtime Healdsburg businesswoman June Shoffeitt, 86, passed
away peacefully at her home on December 25, 2003 after suffering a
stroke in September of this year. Born Mildred June McGowen on June
20, 1917 in Indiana, she met and married William Shoffeitt and
raised four children. After several cross country junkets and a
number of entrepreneurial efforts, the couple co-founded Shoffeitt
Gourmet Seasonings in Healdsburg in 1966, where they manufactured
many unique seasoning blends, including the very first lemon
pepper. June ran the family business while caring for her husband
through a long illness until his passing in 1986. She returned to
work full time and continued the family tradition of creating new
flavors and capitalizing on their location in the heart of the wine
country by adding wine-enhanced blends for the gift store markets
throughout the area. She continued working in the business into the
early part of this year when she handed over the operations to her
daughters. June loved to bowl, competing in leagues and tournaments
into her 80’s. At that time she rediscovered a passion for golf and
played in each of six annual family and friends tournaments held in
her honor around her birthday. June is survived by her four
children, Dennis Shoffeitt of Lower Lake, Sandy Shoffeitt of Santa
Rosa, Bobbie Imler of Healdsburg and Janet Browning of Santa Rosa.
She had 29 grandchildren, 31 great-grandchildren and one
great-great-grandchild. The family asks that anyone so inclined
make a donation in June’s name to the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation, (800) 462-9273, as June was also a breast cancer
survivor.