Alma Jeanne Winchell
January 18, 1942 - September 10, 2016
Obituary
Alma Jeanne (Thayer) Winchell was a long time resident of the Seattle, she passed away Saturday, September 10th at the age of 74.
She is survived by her daughter (Kim) and son (Kevin). One brother (Jack) and two sisters (Alice and Jan). Six grandchildren: Rachael, Erick, Shawn, Michael, Allaina and Crystal. Five great grandsons and several nieces and nephews.
Jeanne was born the youngest of nine children in Bozeman Montana to John and Effie Williams on January 18, 1942. She went to school in Bozeman and in 1961 had a daughter in Butte, later that year she moved to Seattle to begin her career at Boeing. In 1966 her son was born. Jeanne retired from Boeing after 27 years. She then worked as a travel agent for several years. In 1985 Jeanne married the love of her life, Jim. They were married for 20 joy filled years until Jim’s death in 2006. She missed him dearly.
Jeanne was a lifelong learner, artist and avid traveler.
From crocheting her own wedding dress to making cat hair coasters, there was really no bounds to her artful eye and creativity. Her family and friends reaped the benefits, as Jeanne was always giving her art to anyone that would appreciate it. She enjoyed crocheting, knitting, sewing, quilting, tatting, bobbin lace making and weaving.
Travel was another Jeanne’s great passions. As a lover of history, this brought her to some of the greatest destinations on earth and often repeatedly. Israel, England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Caribbean and Costa Rica were a few of her destinations. She also traveled the United States via car and rail.
Jeanne will be deeply missed by her family and all that knew her.
Thanks for all of the beautiful things she gave me.
Jeanne was an inspiration to me in creating my own quilts. Her hand quilted items were beautiful and complex. Like the rest of our family, we were the recipients of many beautiful hand-made gifts. My favorite was a wall hanging with a picture of my grandmother on fabric with beautiful tatting around the photo. I will miss her and the time we spent visiting and discussing quilting.
I will miss talking politics with her, we pretty much agreed on everthing political.
I always admired Aunt Jeanne. She raised her two kids by herself and always stuck up for her beliefs. I guess I would say she has spunk. My sincere sympathy to Kim, Kevin and your families for the loss of your mother and grandmother and also to Aunt Alice, Uncle Jack and Aunt Janna for the loss of your sister. We’ll all miss her.
My mother was extremely hard working and put others first. So many great memories. I had 49 years with mom. Very fortunate. Mom was in good health and passed unexpedictaly. Moms quality of life was good until the end. Mom had amazing memory. Thats a blessing. Im counting my blessings. Kim and I are very blessed to have such a hard working and careing mother. Mom missed Jim dearly,they are together now. Happy for mom.
Sorry to hear of Aunt Jean’s passing. My mom Eloise was the oldest of the kids and I can remember that mom told me I was named after Aunt Jean. When we had a family reunion she would bring some items that she was working on at the time and they were beautiful. Will miss visiting with her at reunions.She will now get to see and visit with Eloise and all her brothers and sisters that went before her.
I am regretful for not having known Jeanne. We shared so many interests I was not aware of. My mother was Mary Leona Johnson, he father was Thomas Newton Johnson. I’m forever grateful to Jeanne and Janna for their hard work on our family tree.
I’m sorry for the family’s loss.
Patricia