Jeanne Jaques Inman

Jeanne was born at a hospital in Clinton, Massachusetts near the family home in Bolton, to George and Helen Jaques. Her father was pastor of the Federated Church in Bolton (five denominations, including Quakers) and in the small church in Still River (village in the town of Harvard). Jeanne’s mother was the organist for her father’s churches. Thus Jeanne had a fairly comprehensive knowledge of hymns.

In the early 1940s they lived in Lyndon Center, Vermont.

Her older brother, Milton Jaques (1926-2006), was a reporter who covered Washington for over 30 years – including Presidents Eisenhower to Reagan – first with Newhouse News Service and 1968-83 for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He also ran a speakers’ bureau. Jeanne’s younger brother, Paul Jaques of Meredith, New Hampshire, was a doctor in Osterville (Cape Cod) for most of his professional life.

She graduated from Northfield School for Girls in 1948 (Northfield, Massachusetts). She attended Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, 1948-52, earning a B.A. in mathematics. (Grand-daughter Jackie Villadsen is now at Bucknell as Assistant Professor of Physics & Astronomy.) Jeanne was a Beth Israel Hospital (Boston) chemistry lab assistant, when she met Jack Inman. They married in 1954. When Jack got into some deep math in his research project at Harvard, Jeanne did some of the math for his thesis. As Jack changed jobs, they moved to Lansing, MI, in 1956, Somerville, New Jersey in 1960, Baltimore in 1963 and finally Bethesda in 1965.

Some childhood memories from Paul, her brother, stimulated by his viewing picture of a Vermont farm in winter:

• When Jeanne was five or six and Thanksgiving fell on her birthday, she told her mother “I want everything chocolate" even the turkey (or was it chicken?) and mashed potatoes.

• Every holiday, Aunt Elsie sent boxes of candy from Strawbridge and Clothiers. Paul and Jeanne sat on the floor with Jeanne hiding under the kitchen table in Bolton while eating a whole box of candy. “I don't remember being punished for that escapade, but we must have been.”

• Bach Chorales for treble trio in Lyndon Center church – Jeanne, Paul and Kenny Amadon.

• Jeanne as Gretel in Hansel and Gretel operetta in the Lyndon Center town hall.

• Paul wearing Jeanne’s Gretel costume in the Halloween parade and getting prize for "the prettiest" (not specifying whether or not just the costume). Paul: “I really got razzed for that one!”

Fran Jaques (sister-in-law) said “Jeanne was a great help to Milt and me in babysitting

our children and especially Andrew as a baby. We seemed to be always going somewhere that we needed help with our children. She and Jack were the ones we called on first to help us out and they always did…Milt and Jeanne always had a close relationship which continued throughout their lives.”

Some of the memories from Keith (son):

• She loved breakfast picnics on the C&O canal—Pennyfield (Lock 22) or Violettes Lock (23). Those classic yellow plastic camp dishes spoke of her love of yellow and high level of organization around camping (and pretty much everything).

• Books -- I remember her liking Agatha Christie a long time ago, romance novels, Gerald Durrell, and anything by the All Things Bright and Beautiful veterinarian, probably also Thurber.

• She loved Mozart horn concertos and when I was little she would play marches while housecleaning (“We are Marching to Pretoria…”) and complained that Debussy didn’t appeal to her strong sense of rhythm.

• She didn’t like mountain roads in the Rockies but loved the softer, gentler, more lush mountains in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The Inmans transferred membership from Bethesda Presbyterian (too many Vietnam war supporters!) to Bethesda Friends Meeting in the mid 1970s. She served as clerk of Bethesda Friends in the 1980s. For several decades she and daughter Louise created costumes used for the Meeting’s Christmas pageant.

She maintained a friendly household, welcoming to her children’s friends and later to her grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren Robbie and Bridget. Christmas Eve with the entire local clan was particularly memorable.

She always was happiest when working on projects for her family and others. She helped many people with her extensive sewing and gardening knowledge. She was a master gardener in Montgomery County for several years, and a member of Bethesda Quilters. Her long-time neighbor Julie Kerr observed, “I was very lucky to have her as a neighbor, and to share our mutual love of plants. Her seed starting abilities were awe inspiring!”

She is survived by daughters Nancy and Louise, and son Keith, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service for Jeanne will be held on Tuesday, March 7th, 2023 at 2PM at Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home (11800 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring, MD 20904).