Jean Durgin Harlan

A 1945 University of Wisconsin graduate, Jean was active in student government, and was elected to the Mortar Board national college honorary society. She earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Ohio University. While teaching Child Development at Ohio University, she mentored many aspiring teachers. She pioneered in writing the first science teacher education textbook for the early childhood years. Over the next 40 years, she published 10 revised editions of that textbook. It was also published in nine foreign-language editions. She also published three informal science education books, and privately published a travel memoir. Prior to earning her advanced degrees, Jean taught preschool students at the Ohio University Laboratory School, an experience which informed the practical aspect of her textbooks.

In 1962, Jean was awarded a Fulbright grant to teach at a women’s college in India, a life-changing experience. She later became a researcher at The Ohio State University, a contributing editor for a children’s magazine, and a consultant to the writers and producers of Sesame Street. She also served on the Editorial Board of the National Association for Early Childhood Education.

She returned to Wisconsin, where she was a psychotherapist for 15 years. Retiring to Columbus, Ohio, she was a Franklin Park Conservatory docent, a Grant Hospital volunteer, and an ardent supporter of public education and planet sustainability.

Jean deeply appreciated the many friendships she formed throughout her life, and continued to form, as she warmly welcomed new neighbors at her independent living facility.

Most of all, Jean was grateful for the experience of being the mother of five loving children: Elizabeth (Betsy) Thompson Harlan, Anne Harlan Strohm, John Trumbull Harlan, Susan Harlan Borghese, and Julie Harlan Schneider. She was the grandmother to 12 grandchildren, great-grandmother to five great-grandchildren, and aunt to two nieces and two nephews. Jean was predeceased by her older sister, Polly Durgin Warner, and by two grandsons: Christopher William Bales and Jackson Trumbulll Schneider. In September of 2024, Jean and her family were blessed to celebrate Jean’s 100th birthday. She will be deeply missed.

Funeral arrangements entrusted to SCHOEDINGER MIDTOWN.