Jean Hess

Jeannie Hess, 70, of Jamaica Plain passed away peacefully at home on Wednesday, March 11, 2020, a year after being diagnosed with glioblastoma. Jeannie was deeply loved by her many friends and family, especially by her wife, Lorna Gibson. She was the daughter of Jack and Amelia Hess, sister of Milty, his wife, Gladys, and Katherine, aunt to Jeff, his wife, Alyson Clark-Garvey, and Adam, and great aunt to Emily, Lyla and Kayla.

Jeannie did good in the world. In the 1980s, she worked as Director of the Women’s Self-Defense Alliance in New Haven, CT (she held a black belt in judo) and as Executive Director of AIDS Project New Haven. In the 1990s she worked as the HIV and Public Health Programs Coordinator at Dorchester House and from 2000 -2013 as a coordinator of community service programs at Harvard Medical School. In her retirement, she volunteered at LivableStreets Alliance and trained her dog, Maddie, to be a therapy dog, taking her weekly to visit residents in assisted living places in Jamaica Plain.

Jeannie loved: bike touring – across the United States (twice), through the Loire Valley on that first wonderful vacation with Lorna, and on many other trips; hiking – in the Tetons, the Canadian Rockies, and on annual trips to the Utah National Parks with their red, red rocks – she was especially proud of hiking up Angels Landing in Zion; travelling, especially the trips to Australia and the Galapagos and to her beloved Adirondacks; and the beauty of nature. At home she loved seeing friends, cooking, bread-making and gardening.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Jeannie’s memory may be made to: LivableStreets Alliance, in Cambridge MA or Bikes not Bombs, in Jamaica Plain MA.

A celebration of Jeannie’s life will be held at a later date.