Jean DeGooyer

May 18, 1925 – April 23, 2015

Born in Lead Hill, Arkansas, Jean was the only child of Loy and Elva Whitley Turner. Jean grew up in and around Lead Hill and graduated from Lead Hill High School in 1942.

When visiting her cousin Billy Jean in Yakima, she met Donald DeGooyer who was in town visiting his family. They fell in love and were married January 17, 1947, in Yakima. Soon after, they wanted to try their hand at farming and moved to Missouri, not far from Jean’s parents. Their daughter Terri Denise was born in 1952. A few years later, they decided that farming was not the life for them and they moved to Wichita, Kansas. Jean worked as a civilian at the military base where she was a keypunch operator, while her husband Don was working for Boeing. In 1957, he was transferred to Seattle, and Jean also went to work for Boeing and became an Avon representative. In the 1970s, Jean found her love for selling real estate, and a few years later she and Don had their own real estate company, Invesco. She sold residential properties and he sold commercial properties. Eventually they sold that business, and on January 19, 1981, Jean started working for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), operating the Fisheries Computer Department. She retired eight years later, on September 30, 1989.

Jean is a lifetime member of Epslon Sigma Alpha (ESA), a non-academic, philanthropic organization. Over approximately four decades, she held various positions in ESA, including State President. Through her work for ESA, she had the opportunity to meet people from all over the country and the world. No matter what state she and her husband Don would visit when they traveled, they always had a place to stay with someone they had met through ESA. During her active years with the organization she helped raise millions of dollars to support the Saint Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis and even getting to meet and talk with entertainer Danny Thomas, who had been instrumental in establishing the hospital. Jean also met other famous people while working for the St. Jude Telethons in Seattle. She was especially thrilled to meet Bob Denver (Gilligan) and Governor Dan Evans.

Although working a full time job and was actively involved in ESA, Jean found time for many other activities. She was a Camp Fire leader all through her daughter Terri’s elementary and junior high school years. She also elected to the board of directors for the Easter Seal Society, helping handicap persons locate and use the variety of services and resources available to them. Jean was quite the seamstress making clothes, re-upholstering furniture, and making all the drapes and the curtains for the condo they moved into in Kirkland in the 1975. Jean was a lovely hostess, entertaining friends and family at dinner parties, but she also liked outdoor activities such as gardening and camping. During the summers, Jean and family traveled on their boat, the JEDONTE (named for Jean, Don and Terri), frequently going to the San Juan Islands with friends, Ken and Joy. And in her later years, she enjoyed watching her grandsons participate in sports—which her husband Don enjoyed just as much as she did.

Jean enjoyed spending time RVing often with her and Don’s grandsons, her sister-in-law Virginia and husband Cap, and with their best friends Bob and Donna. Over the years they traveled to every state in the union and to Canada. They often took part in activities at the campgrounds, and it was at a campground that Jean had the opportunity to lean to paint. Several of her outdoor scenes graced the walls of her living room and many were given as gifts to family members. She and Don frequently traveled to Arizona in the winter to visit her youngest sister-in-law Deanna and her husband Chris and family. They were members of the Family Motor Coach Association, and members of the Elks in Wichita, in Lake City and in Bellevue, Washington. Jean and Don were Wagon Masters for the Lake City RV Elks Group, planning the year’s outings. Other travels included Hawaii, a trip to Germany with sister-in-law Marlene, and cruises to Alaska and Mexico.

Despite all her various interests, Jean always had time for anyone who needed help and would never turn anyone down. Family and friends remember Jean as always as having a smile and a kind word for everyone she met throughout each and every day.

Jean was preceded in death by her parents, Loy and Elva Turner and her husband Don of sixty-six years.

She is survived by her daughter Terri, son-in-law Marty, grandsons Brent and Kyle, great-granddaughter Ashley, great-grandson Camden, sister-in-law Deanna and Deanna’s husband Chris, brother-in-law’s wife Angelle, and many nieces and nephews.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital www.stjude.org