Born Jean Madeline VanDuyne on May 7, 1929, she lived on Long Island, NY and other parts of New York State, then Minneapolis, MN and back to Long Island where she tested high enough to attend high school early. During WW2, she wrapped bandages for the troops.
She and her family moved to Kansas City, MO the day after her graduation in 1946. At 17, she worked as a typist for a film distributor and quickly advanced there. Later she did secretarial work for the Federal Probation & Parole office. While in Kansas City, she met Robert J. Zahner (Bob), at a play cast party and they danced all evening. Jean became a Catholic and they were married in 195O. In 1951 they built a home in rural Lenexa, Kansas, where they lived for six weeks before he left to serve in the Army during the Korean War. Jean then lived with her parents until Bob’s return in 1953.
Soon they started a family of six children, complete with horses, dogs, chickens and rabbits. Jean embraced rural living and was a 4-H leader and taught cooking, crocheting and sewing for the county extension program. She directed the choir and played the organ at church.
Later Jean worked as a secretary for Chevron and then Sprint. When she retired, she and Bob enjoyed their Recreation Vehicle for ten winters in south Texas and moved to a retirement village in Belton, Missouri, where Jean sang in the church choir and taught line-dancing.
After Robert Zahner’s death, Jean married Richard Rieder. They lived in Belton, then Gardner, Kansas and later moved to Cedar Lake Village in Olathe, KS.
Besides her successful work history, Jean was an avid reader, tended her flower garden, made a lot of good friends, hosted fun parties, loved dancing and was a great mother.
Left to cherish her memory is her husband, Richard Rieder of Olathe, KS, a brother, Robert VanDuyne (Mary) of Grand Blanc, Michigan and her children: Steve (Sally) Zahner of Shirley, AR; Debora Burstein Jarrell of Indianapolis, IN; Thomas Zahner of Olathe, KS; Mark Zahner (Karen), of Lenexa, KS; David Zahner of Lenexa, KS and Catherine Stoltz (John) of Peculiar, MO. She leaves six grand children and four great-grandchildren.
Jean is preceded in death by her husband Robert J. Zahner, her brother Bill VanDuyne and sister-in-law Billie VanDuyne.
A memorial celebrating Jean’s life will be held at 1:00 PM on Saturday, August 24, 2024 at Cedar Lake Village Worship and Life Center, 15325 S. Lone Elm Road, Olathe, Kansas 66061. Inurnment at 12:00 PM on Friday, August 23rd in Resurrection Catholic Cemetery, 8321 Quivira Road, Lenexa, Kansas 66215.
