Jean Lucille Willetts Orr passed away on December 22, 2021, at her home in the Stevensville Living Centre in Stevensville, Montana.
She was born on April 5,1921 in Kewanee, Illinois and was the daughter of Bert and Myrtle (Bates) Willetts of Kewanee. She lived a remarkable and blessed 100 years.
Jean grew up during the Great Depression, in Kewanee, on Cambridge Road in the home of a very loving and hardworking family, and graduated from Kewanee High School in 1939.
She met her sweetheart, Max Orr, the summer of 1938 at Northeast Park where they skated together and fell in love. She attended beauty school in Kewanee. She and Max were married in Kahoka, Missouri, August 30, 1941. They were blessed with 66 years together before Max passed away in 2008. She worked as a beautician while Max served in the South Pacific during WWII. As a beautician at Kewanee Dry Goods, she vividly remembered the devastating April 1942 Kewanee Fire which put her and many others out of work. After the war, Jean and Max lived in Kewanee for a number of years while he worked at the Walworth, and then they spent many good years farming together in the Saxon area south of Kewanee, and they gave their two children, Denny and Janet, a wonderful life there.
She was a woman of strong moral character and integrity, a loving wife and mother, and a thoughtful and kind friend. She was a dedicated, lifetime member of the First United Methodist Church in Kewanee. She delighted in her family and friends, was a blessing to them, and enjoyed entertaining the Saxon neighborhood ladies. She took pleasure in get-togethers and reunions, and loved farm-life, her home and family, and the Kewanee/Galva area. She enjoyed birds, animals and flowers, sewing and needlework, antiquing, cooking and stamp collecting and traveling. Although her health in her last years made it necessary to live in Montana, her heart was always back in Kewanee.
She was preceded in death by her father (1961) and mother (1992); her husband Max in 2008; her son Denny in 2016; and her brother Robert in 2018.
Burial will be in the Pleasant View Cemetery, Kewanee.
She was born on April 5,1921 in Kewanee, Illinois and was the daughter of Bert and Myrtle (Bates) Willetts of Kewanee. She lived a remarkable and blessed 100 years.
Jean grew up during the Great Depression, in Kewanee, on Cambridge Road in the home of a very loving and hardworking family, and graduated from Kewanee High School in 1939.
She met her sweetheart, Max Orr, the summer of 1938 at Northeast Park where they skated together and fell in love. She attended beauty school in Kewanee. She and Max were married in Kahoka, Missouri, August 30, 1941. They were blessed with 66 years together before Max passed away in 2008. She worked as a beautician while Max served in the South Pacific during WWII. As a beautician at Kewanee Dry Goods, she vividly remembered the devastating April 1942 Kewanee Fire which put her and many others out of work. After the war, Jean and Max lived in Kewanee for a number of years while he worked at the Walworth, and then they spent many good years farming together in the Saxon area south of Kewanee, and they gave their two children, Denny and Janet, a wonderful life there.
She was a woman of strong moral character and integrity, a loving wife and mother, and a thoughtful and kind friend. She was a dedicated, lifetime member of the First United Methodist Church in Kewanee. She delighted in her family and friends, was a blessing to them, and enjoyed entertaining the Saxon neighborhood ladies. She took pleasure in get-togethers and reunions, and loved farm-life, her home and family, and the Kewanee/Galva area. She enjoyed birds, animals and flowers, sewing and needlework, antiquing, cooking and stamp collecting and traveling. Although her health in her last years made it necessary to live in Montana, her heart was always back in Kewanee.
She was preceded in death by her father (1961) and mother (1992); her husband Max in 2008; her son Denny in 2016; and her brother Robert in 2018.
Burial will be in the Pleasant View Cemetery, Kewanee.
Jean Lucille Willetts Orr passed away on December 22, 2021, at her home in the Stevensville Living Centre in Stevensville, Montana.
She was born on April 5,1921 in Kewanee, Illinois and was the daughter of Bert and Myrtle (Bates) Willetts of Kewanee. She lived a remarkable and blessed 100 years.
Jean grew up during the Great Depression, in Kewanee, on Cambridge Road in the home of a very loving and hardworking family, and graduated from Kewanee High School in 1939.
She met her sweetheart, Max Orr, the summer of 1938 at Northeast Park where they skated together and fell in love. She attended beauty school in Kewanee. She and Max were married in Kahoka, Missouri, August 30, 1941. They were blessed with 66 years together before Max passed away in 2008. She worked as a beautician while Max served in the South Pacific during WWII. As a beautician at Kewanee Dry Goods, she vividly remembered the devastating April 1942 Kewanee Fire which put her and many others out of work. After the war, Jean and Max lived in Kewanee for a number of years while he worked at the Walworth, and then they spent many good years farming together in the Saxon area south of Kewanee, and they gave their two children, Denny and Janet, a wonderful life there.
She was a woman of strong moral character and integrity, a loving wife and mother, and a thoughtful and kind friend. She was a dedicated, lifetime member of the First United Methodist Church in Kewanee. She delighted in her family and friends, was a blessing to them, and enjoyed entertaining the Saxon neighborhood ladies. She took pleasure in get-togethers and reunions, and loved farm-life, her home and family, and the Kewanee/Galva area. She enjoyed birds, animals and flowers, sewing and needlework, antiquing, cooking and stamp collecting and traveling. Although her health in her last years made it necessary to live in Montana, her heart was always back in Kewanee.
She was preceded in death by her father (1961) and mother (1992); her husband Max in 2008; her son Denny in 2016; and her brother Robert in 2018.
Burial will be in the Pleasant View Cemetery, Kewanee.
She was born on April 5,1921 in Kewanee, Illinois and was the daughter of Bert and Myrtle (Bates) Willetts of Kewanee. She lived a remarkable and blessed 100 years.
Jean grew up during the Great Depression, in Kewanee, on Cambridge Road in the home of a very loving and hardworking family, and graduated from Kewanee High School in 1939.
She met her sweetheart, Max Orr, the summer of 1938 at Northeast Park where they skated together and fell in love. She attended beauty school in Kewanee. She and Max were married in Kahoka, Missouri, August 30, 1941. They were blessed with 66 years together before Max passed away in 2008. She worked as a beautician while Max served in the South Pacific during WWII. As a beautician at Kewanee Dry Goods, she vividly remembered the devastating April 1942 Kewanee Fire which put her and many others out of work. After the war, Jean and Max lived in Kewanee for a number of years while he worked at the Walworth, and then they spent many good years farming together in the Saxon area south of Kewanee, and they gave their two children, Denny and Janet, a wonderful life there.
She was a woman of strong moral character and integrity, a loving wife and mother, and a thoughtful and kind friend. She was a dedicated, lifetime member of the First United Methodist Church in Kewanee. She delighted in her family and friends, was a blessing to them, and enjoyed entertaining the Saxon neighborhood ladies. She took pleasure in get-togethers and reunions, and loved farm-life, her home and family, and the Kewanee/Galva area. She enjoyed birds, animals and flowers, sewing and needlework, antiquing, cooking and stamp collecting and traveling. Although her health in her last years made it necessary to live in Montana, her heart was always back in Kewanee.
She was preceded in death by her father (1961) and mother (1992); her husband Max in 2008; her son Denny in 2016; and her brother Robert in 2018.
Burial will be in the Pleasant View Cemetery, Kewanee.
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