Jean Braatz (Young) was born to the union of Frank and Geneva Young in Bellingham, Washington on October 13, 1930, where she was also raised, and is a graduate of Bellingham High School. Her vibrant upbringing was underscored by her joy in attending the local high school football games, sneaking out of the house to roller skate, and attend the local dance hall. She worked as a telephone operator with Bell Telephone for many of those early years.
It was in Bellingham where she met her first husband Glen Adams and remained until their divorce. After she married her second husband Roy A. Braatz, Sr. at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Bellingham, she left Bellingham to live and travel extensively with her family throughout the United States and Asia, including residences in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin; Taipei, Taiwan; Oklahoma; Ft. Worth, Texas; Hawai’i; Nebraska; and El Paso, Texas before settling in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1987. Jean received her chair-side dental assistant certification at the Marine Air Station In Kaneohe, Hawai’i and worked as a dental assistant, child care worker, American Red Cross volunteer, teacher, and private personal care provider for Judge Austin A. Pritchett until her retirement. She was very well-known in the BINGO! halls of Las Vegas as an avid player and champion where she established an enormous social circle on the Las Vegas casino circuit.
Jean left this life according to her final wishes, at her home in Las Vegas on Sunday, December 1, 2019, in the loving arms of her daughter Debbie and surrounded by her close family members. She will be forever cherished, treasured, and remembered by her surviving children Diana, Debbie, and Roy; stepdaughter Mara; grandchildren Kayla, Steven, Brandon, Michael, Noe, Paul, and Tanya; step-grand daughter Daisha Wilby; five great-grandchildren, one great great-grandchild, and many nieces, and nephews And loving former husband Roy, Sr. She was predeceased by her parents, her sisters June and Shirley, step-sisters Marcella and Maxine, loving daughter Sandra, her cousin Beverly and Beverly’s husband Ken Eggert, Sr.
Donations in Jean’s memory can be sent to keepmemoryalive.org through the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health for Parkinson’s and Brain Research.
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