Jean Marian Eittreim

On December 3, 2020, Jean M (Hilton) Eittreim left this earth at 91 to be with her Lord and Savior, joining her husband John (Jack) R Eittreim and her parents, James and Ethel (Olson) Hilton her brothers, Robert and Richard, at last.

Jean was the mother of 2 loving daughters: Janice Baldwin (Ed) and Cynthia Singleton (Andrew), grandmother of Jordan, Lauren, Amanda, Mary, and Alyssa, and great-grandmother of 2. She loved her brothers’ families as well. She was all about family and relished friendships—she was well known for calling to sing happy birthday and sending cards for all occasions to remind those she loved that she was thinking of them.

A lover of hummingbirds and the swallows that nested outside her window each year, she watched with huge smiles as baby birds showed their faces above the nests and learned to fly. Flowers made her happy, as did other small pleasures (like the occasional margarita and guacamole).

Jean was born in Minneapolis and grew up in Klamath Falls, where she attended KUHS and met her future life-long love, John Eittreim. She earned a BS in Sociology from University of Oregon and was a proud member and leader in her AOPi sorority. Bound for adventure in San Francisco, she lived on Telegraph Hill with several friends from college and high school, until love and marriage called to her.

Jack and Jean moved with the girls from Eugene to Portland Oregon, Fort Worth, TX and Jacksonville, FL over the course of the years, and she made a warm home wherever she went.

Her family was always her top priority and her passion—devoted to her daughters, they remember fondly lunches with loving notes, hand sewn dresses and costumes, cookies for homeroom and cakes for birthday parties. She was mom, wife, cheerleader, Camp Fire Girl leader and organizer. She kept the family centered and close, always choosing their happiness as her own.

Long-term friendships, going back to childhood, were very important to her. Jean took many trips: Carmel, Martha’s Vineyard, even Paris, with her girlhood group of friends, and remained in contact with them up until the last.

She and her husband Jack took great pleasure in boating on the St Johns and the intercoastal waterway in Jacksonville in the Roany II, named after her father’s favorite Tennessee Walker.

Generous and kind, Jean was active in the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society and looked after aging friends and neighbors until she herself needed support.

She was widowed in 1976, and finally left Jacksonville to be closer to family. For the past 16 years, she chose Christus St Joseph’s Village in Coppell as her home, and she came to love many of her neighbors and the staff there.

The family is grateful to the staff at St Joseph, who treated Jean as a treasured guest and neighbor, as well as to the wonderfully competent nurses and physicians at Baylor Plano, who were so gentle and kind, making her final hours peaceful, so that she kept her smile always.

Jean Eittreim’s was a life well lived and well loved.

A family gathering was held to celebrate her life, but there will be no formal services at Jean’s request.