Jeanne Ferrell died peacefully, on Monday, November 17th, 2014, at her home in Lydia's House, the Alzheimer's & Dementia Care unit of the Mennonite Village in Albany, Oregon. She was in her daughter's arms, her son-in-law was by her side, her loving care-givers checking in, and a harpist from Evergreen Hospice was playing beautiful classical music at her bedside.

Her family and close friends had all spent time with her over the past year. For those of you not familiar with dementia, it is surprising and wonderful how often a capacity to share love, humor and other emotions persists even as the condition progresses. Fortunately, Jeanne still possessed those abilities until the end, and she couldn't have left more gracefully or beautifully.

Jeanne was a force of nature, and those who knew her were fortunate. She was born Selma Jean Welshans on May 15th, 1929, in Marston Missouri, to Louise Metts and Lee Welshans. Louise married Arthur Justin Sole in 1931, and at the age of two, Jean "adopted the name Sole, having never known any other father." Selma Jean soon had a sister, Allana, and the Sole family were four.

Jeanne spent a lot of time with her grandparents, and was grateful for the experience. The family traveled about the country a lot when she was a child because of Art's work. They always came back to Mama & Grampy Metts' home between assignments. Being with her grandparents was always very special for Jeanne. As she said to us just five years ago, "I got attention from many adults, like very few kids do [these days], because my grandfather was there, and they all met me in his store. I went around with him, and went fishing. I just learned everything [from my grandparents], and other people. I had [many] people around that town, who thought I was just the best thing in the world." Jeanne knew how to look outside herself and to see the positive in almost every situation. She was very independent and adventurous.

In 1946, at age 17, Jeanne graduated at the top of her high school class, and later taught at the local school. She went to Southeast Missouri State College for one year, where she met Fred.

Jeanne married Frederick Alfred Rieck on February 14, 1950, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Together they had three wonderful children of their own: Paul, Ellen and John, whom they loved, and taught laughter, curiosity, deep appreciation for family and a sense of adventure. They encouraged their children to think independently, to be resourceful and to work to understand others. Jeanne had a lifelong love of nature and a knack for making beautiful things whether it was a garden, a home design, a meal or a flower arrangement.

Jeanne was a legal administrator at Oliver, Oliver and Jones Attorneys at law. She kept things organized and running smoothly, trained new people and cultivated a family atmosphere at the office. In 1978, she completed an Accounting degree with honors at SEMO, gloating that she beat Ellen to her diploma by a month.

Jeanne had a beautiful voice and loved to sing. She belonged to various choral groups her whole life. In 1962, she represented the State of Missouri at the World’s Fair in Seattle with the Cape Choraliers. In the famous Seattle traffic, she coined one of her sayings: “You can’t get there from here!”

Jeanne moved to Corvallis, Oregon in 1985, where Ellen was living and starting a family. She joined a new community, gave to it and grew with it. A part of that community was the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Corvallis. She met William K. Ferrell there, and married him on May 21st, 1987. Jeanne and Bill proceeded to have many adventures together, and brought wonderful people, ideas and experiences into the lives of their family: Paul and Julie Rieck, son Jeremy and daughter Alison; Ellen and John Tappon, daughter Sarah and son Paul; John and Vicki Rieck, daughter Jessie; Kathy and Val Bubb, Tom and Suzanne Ferrell, sons Carter and Warren; Steve Ferrell; Son-in-law Ted Wilson; and a large extended family.

After retiring from her work as legal administrator for Peterson, Barker and Dunfield, she designed and built beautiful gardens around Corvallis and continued to love travelling and adventure, even taking up white water rafting and modern dance in her late 60’s.

Jeanne was full of heart, generosity and compassion. She had a very quick mind, a stellar sense of humor and the largest vocabulary we ever encountered. She loved to sing and dance and opened her life and home to others. She could light up a room. Most of all, Jeanne will be remembered by the love she had for her family. She worked hard to keep us connected and was forever adopting new members to the clan. One of her favorite things was being "grandma" - to whomever needed one. She was always there for anyone who needed comfort or solace - or just a good laugh.

In 2009, two-years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Jeanne shared a few reflections, with her family, on her decision to donate her brain and other body tissues to the Oregon Brain Bank at the Oregon Health Sciences University Layton Aging & Alzheimer's Disease Center.

"They're taking my body and doing something with it... I just really felt strongly about that... I just think that's one more thing I can do... I was just delighted to find out that that could happen, and that maybe something they could tickle around and find in me would be something that would help other people down the line... and I think that's what we all need to strive for." This is so characteristic of her attitude.

Jeanne loved her caregivers, and we, her family, are deeply grateful to all of them; her friends, the staff at Lydia's House, Evergreen and Benton Hospice, the staff at Reagent Court, and to so many others who have given help, love and affection to Jeanne and to us for so many years. The staff at Lydia's house grew deep in Jeanne's heart, and so they have in ours.