Jeannette Jean Drake

87, of St. Petersburg, Florida, passed away Feb. 25, 2013 at Northside Hospital in St. Petersburg.

Jeannette Drake, who went by Jean, was born in Newark, New Jersey, November 25, 1925. Her father was a Bouncer in a movie theater and her mother a homemaker. She had one sister named Fannie. Jean worked in a telephone company before she married Arnold. She met Arnold through his Aunt Nellie who was a friend of her parents. She & Arnold fell immediately in love as they married after a three month courtship. They lived in Newark, New Jersey. Jean became a homemaker giving birth to three girls, namely Charlotte, Carol & Diane. Her husband Arnold was a pasteurizer for Clinton Milk Company. Jean remained a homemaker until the girl’s high school years and then she began to work part time at a Jimmy Buff Sausage Restaurant. She and her husband loved to vacation in Florida and decided to move to Florida in September of 1968 after living through the riots in Newark New Jersey.

After moving to Florida, Jean took up mowing lawns for the neighbors and did some housecleaning. She loved to help people and always wanted to feel useful. She also worked part time, for a short while, closing and cleaning a local laundry mat.

Jean became an employee of the Pinellas County School District working part time in the kitchen serving lunches when her oldest grandson Danny Jr. began kindergarten. She transferred to Sawgrass Lake Elementary when Norwood Elementary Closed. She was an employee of Pinellas County Schools for 10 years and retired in July of 1993.

Jean & Arnold were former members of Albright United Methodist Church, and she continued to attend after Arnold died in January of 2004. However as Jean aged she found it difficult to attend church without a companion so she began to attend church at Central Christian with her daughter Carol. She enjoyed attending church and the Sunday school classes led by Bill Keller.

Jean had a love for art and liked drawing cartoons. She was an avid collector of movie star pictures and stamps. She was a devoted grandmother to 7 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren. She will be greatly missed by all whose lives she touched.

Jean is survived by her three daughters, Charlotte Armstrong and her husband, Bobby, Carol Holbrook and her husband, John, and Diane Phillips; seven grandchildren, Danny Phillips, Jr., Serina Belzel, John Holbrook, Jr., Joseph Holbrook, Benjamin Belzel, Chris Smith, and David Holbrook; and nine great grandchildren.

Visitation will be Saturday from 1:00pm until service time at 3:00 pm at Garden Sanctuary Funeral Home, 7950 131st St. Seminole, FL 33776. Interment will follow in Garden Sanctuary Cemetery.