Jean Carlson Earle

Jean Avelyn Barbara Carlson Earle passed away Monday, August 20, 2012 at her home in Madison Heights, VA. She is survived by her four children, Janet Candith Repa, a retired interior designer from Santa Fe, NM, David Walton Earle, a counselor, business coach and author from Lake Charles, LA, Dorothy Jean Dawson, a high school teacher with a Masters in special education and real estate broker from Madison Heights, VA, and Constance Ellen Murphy, an environmental scientist from Purcellville, Virginia. Jean was born on December 26, 1919 in Brooklyn, NY to David Seaman Carlson and Jenny Carolina Carlson. She attended Bayside School for Girls. She began working as a secretary for Babcock and Wilcox (B&W) in 1940 and, in 1942, she married Richard Walton Earle, a handsome engineer from the same company. He was her husband for 66 years until his death in 2008.

Richard and Jean Earle began their married life in New York, but moved to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia due to Richard’s work with B&W. The Earles lived in Lynchburg from 1957 to 1963 and moved back to the Hill City in 1969. Jean worked at many different places during her career, including the Green Stamp Store in Lynchburg, the Adjusta-Post Lighting Company in Akron, Ohio, and B&W in Lynchburg. After retirement, the Earles enjoyed many years of travel with Elderhostel and the Trailer Club. Jean was active in the Lynchburg Garden Club, the Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church, and Citizens for a Clean Lynchburg.

She served as a docent for the Quaker Meeting House from 1982 to 1992. She was also known as the “Happy Hatter” because she had amassed a collection of antique, interesting and funny hats, which she brought to various groups in the area to spread some cheer with hats and hat stories. She was a Master Gardener, and was also called “the dead plant whisperer” for her ability to revive seemingly lifeless plants and to make a twig stuck into the ground sprout and thrive. Jean and her husband Dick helped plan and plant the Inner City Children’s Garden of Lynchburg and the Patio Garden at Hollin’s Mill Nursing Home. They also planted trees every year at Arbor Day around Lynchburg. In addition, Jean was also an active Girl Scout leader in Virginia, Texas, and Ohio and a 1976 graduate of Central Virginia Community College.

Besides her four children, Jean is survived by eleven grandchildren, one step-grandchild, and 18 great-grandchildren and sixteen step-great grandchildren.

A celebration of Jean Earle’s life will be held on Saturday, August 25 at the Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church fellowship hall from 1 to 3 p.m. Invited guests and members of the church are welcome.

To send a condolence to the family, please visit, www.whittenfuneralhome.com.

Whitten Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Monelison Chapel, is assisting the family.