Jeanne F Toeniskoetter

Jeanne Frances Toeniskoetter, age 89, died peacefully after a short illness on Good Friday, April 14, 2017 at Sunrise of Dublin, Ohio. In her last days she was surrounded by her husband Dick, her six children, and by many other members of her large and loving family.

Jeanne was born on April 2, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, the youngest of nine children. Both of her parents Mae Rose Kohn Krill and Emil John Krill, were children of immigrants to the United States from Germany. Jeanne attended the O’Fallon Convent academy outside St. Louis starting in eighth grade through high school graduation. She stayed two more years at O’Fallon as a young novitiate in the Catholic order of the Sisters of the Most Precious Blood. Although Jeanne spent some of her happiest years at O’Fallon she ultimately decided that her calling was to be a wife and mother. After leaving the convent she completed two years at St. Louis University and then worked for several years in an office.

Around this time she met her husband, Richard H. Toeniskoetter (Dick or Rich) on a St. Louis bowling team and they married in 1953. Over the next eighteen years Jeanne managed the household and multiple moves from St. Louis to Baltimore to Cleveland to New York to Minneapolis and finally to Worthington, Ohio, while Dick completed a PhD at St. Louis U, served in the US Army, and then worked in the chemicals industry. They remained in Worthington for 46 years where Dick eventually retired from Ashland Chemical.

Jeanne and Dick had six children together, four sons and two daughters, all while Jeanne juggled the logistics of new homes, schools and communities. Jeanne was known for her organizational skills, for being an expert cook and baker, and for her love of sewing, quilting and crafts. She loved pug dogs, singing and playing games, especially Hand and Foot and Mexican Train dominoes.

Jeanne was very involved in her church, St. Peter Roman Catholic Church. She also spent many hours volunteering, first with TeleMom, a phone hotline where she shared her abundant parenting wisdom, then later with Worthington Senior Center and for several years as volunteer co-manager for Worthington Meals-on-Wheels, until the city of Worthington took the program over and hired a fulltime manager.

Jeanne was a gregarious person who loved being with others and always enjoyed a full house. She was a beloved Grandma to nineteen grandchildren and four great-grandchildren (with one more on the way). Visiting Grandma was always a treat, as Jeanne would have loads of toys and activities for the kids and often get down on the floor or out in the yard while playing with the little ones.

Jeanne is survived by her husband, Dick, and by her children David (Jane) of St. Paul, Minnesota; Susan (Dan Petree) of San Diego, California; James (Elise) of Detroit, Michigan; Richard (Ann Fisher) of Evansville, Indiana; Stephen (Judy Manley) of Worthington, Ohio; and Marian Feller (Jim) of Colorado Springs, Colorado. She is also survived by nineteen grandchildren and by four great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. She was pre-deceased by her siblings Mary Jane Reinhardt, Madeline, Matilda Gayer, Karl, Elmer, Francis, Dollie Ford and Thomas.

Jeanne designated that her body be donated to The Ohio State University for medical science. The family will hold a memorial in July of this year in Columbus.

The family extends their gratitude to the wonderful caregivers at Sunrise of Dublin, Brookdale Trillium Crossing and Capital City Hospice, and also to St. Peter church for its support. In lieu of flowers the family requests that memorial gifts be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s research, P.O. Box 5014, Hagerstown, MD 21741-5014 or www.michaeljfox.org.

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