Jeannine Faye Fallbeck Kelley was born in Watertown, South Dakota on March 6, 1945. At the age of 7, Jeannine contracted polio and had to leave her family to seek treatment for it alone. This experience changed the course of her life. At an incredibly young age, she learned to pull from an inner well of strength and independence as she learned to walk again and recover from polio. Jeannine would use these newly found traits for the rest of her life. She needed them as a teenager when she moved from the farms she lived on and left the friends she grew up with to move near the town of Hooper, Nebraska after her father was diagnosed with cancer. Jeannine used them again when her father died while she was in high school. Jeannine overcame these difficult early life events and persevered.
She graduated from Hooper High School in May of 1963 and then attended Wayne State College where she received her teaching degree. Shortly after college graduation, she married Tom Kelley on May 28, 1966 and started her life as an Air Force wife. This life would take her across the United States and abroad to Italy and England.
Jeannine taught elementary school until the birth of her first child then dedicated herself to raising her family. Throughout her life, she was “Mom” to her daughters, “Mudder” to her granddaughters and “Moe” to her great granddaughter. Jeannine had two callings in life: first as mother and grandmother and second as an activities director at a nursing home. Jeannine’s passion and love for serving the elderly was unparalleled. She did everything she could to love and engage the residents she served. Each time she lost one, it took a piece of her heart, but she continued to serve them until retirement.
Love and support of her family is one of Jeannine’s legacies. Jeannine loved her family with all her heart. This included lifelong friends that she adopted into her family over the years. Jeannine had a huge heart and an incredible capacity to love others. She was a kind, gentle and generous soul. Jeannine will be greatly missed by all.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas E. Kelley, Jr., parents, Milford Fallbeck and Vivian Fallbeck Petersen, her sister, Judy Nelson and stepfather, John Petersen. She is survived by her daughters, Katherine Kelley Noakes, Christine Kelley and Melissa Kelley; her granddaughters Lauren De La Rosa and Mackenzie Noakes; great granddaughter Serenity Fuentes; her brother Roy Fallbeck and her sister, Connie Souza.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the family who would like to distribute them to local nursing homes and charitable causes that support Jeannine’s passion for the elderly.
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