Jeanne with husband, Ed, and three of their children, now ages 75, 73 and 68. Jeanne sewed the children’s clothing shown here. next summer, in 1944, she worked at the Kaiser Co. Swan Island Shipyards, which was located on an island in the Columbia River. After enrolling at OSC, she worked in the kitchens in Waldo Hall and the Kappa Kappa Gamma house, then in the chemistry building doing inventory and “counting beakers.” She also worked with former history professor Joseph Ellison, PhD, grading papers. “I was always working,” she says. During her education, her classmates worked at home management houses, where they “practiced” homemaking, including food preparation and caring for a baby. Because Jeanne was already married with children, she was able to skip that experience. Instead, she enrolled in “Supervised Experience” at the Nursery School on Orchard Street, now the site of the Child Development Center, and loved spending time observing and later working with children. Through it all, she was influenced by child development professor and author Katherine Read Baker, a role model who later became a friend and lifelong mentor. A LEGACY OF CARE AND CONTINUOUS LEARNING Life after graduation in 1954 has been no less a learning experience. After having four children, Jeanne and her husband, Ed, adopted 2-year-old Lisa, found malnourished and wrapped in a blanket on a staircase in Hong Kong, in the late ’50s. A little over 10 years later, in 1969, she earned her master’s degree at 40 and taught child development courses at Lane Community College. She also taught at the University of Oregon. During her career, she founded a couple of preschools and worked directly with children for five years. She now volunteers her time at a preschool in Eugene that she helped establish in 1958. It serves about 86 families each year, and Jeanne is currently writing the preschool’s history. She also manages a 1,000-book library at the over-55 independent living facility where she lives in downtown Eugene. When the OSU Child Development Center turns 100 in two years, she insists she’ll be back. See you in 2026, Jeanne. For more photos from Jeanne’s collection, visit health.oregonstate.edu/alumni/stories. Jeanne met with faculty and staff at the OSU Child Development Center, as well as College of Health Interim Dean Rick Settersten. From left, Assistant Director Dana Crawford, Director Kathleen McDonnell, Jeanne, and her daughter Mary Lou. Synergies Winter 2024 ▴ 5
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