Jean Esther McGuire

Jean Esther Murray McGuire, (born Oct. 5, 1928 in Bellflower, CA) was the middle child of nine children of Russell Murray and Sarah Sturges. During high school, she began restaurant work and then worked in a broom factory, which she purchased at the age of 16 and employed her sisters. After a few years, she sold the broom factory and hit the road, traveling and waitressing in resort towns, from Southern California to Florida, including the Chi Chi Club in Palm Springs. She met and married Jim McGuire (div) while he was stateside on military leave. They had two children: Mike and Tammy. As a real estate maven for Walker and Lee, she sold new subdivision tract homes in the 1960's and 1970’s mainly in Orange County, and won many sales awards. She retired from Parker Hannifin in Irvine where she met and married Jim Butterfield. After his death, she relocated to San Diego County near her daughter.

She is survived by her daughter Tammy and son-in-law Tom Tidmore, Del Mar, CA, daughter-in-law Stephanie McGuire, grandson Stan McGuire, great grandson Finegan McGuire, Carlotta, CA, sisters Louella Dunann and Joan Murray, and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her son Michael McGuire, parents Russell and Sara Murray, sisters May Peonie, Isabelle May, Marsha Clearwater, and Mavis Clark, brothers Daniel and Franklin Murray.

How do you spell FUN? Jean was a whirlwind—upbeat, determined, stood up for what was right, competitive, and didn’t surrender. A 5-time cancer survivor, “Sec2non” in real estate sales, always late for work, always in a contest, always on a diet (but reached dream weight at age 92!), always doing a crossword puzzle, always reading an Enquirer and a mystery. She learned to cook a few good dishes from chefs at restaurants where she worked, including prime rib, but loved hotdogs, bean and cheese burritos, and diet 7-Up with a little ‘extra’ poured in, and a squeeze of lime. She put her makeup on at traffic lights, ironed her clothes in the back room at the housing tract office, and often arrived at her vacation destination with a suitcase full of wet clothes...they were clean, just not dried! She wrote little poems on the insides of birthday cards, took the kids out for a malt when she sold a house, gave kiddie birthday parties with clowns, horses and merry-go-rounds, played cards, Uno, and Skipbo, knew all the moves for “Little Grass Shack”, was kissed by Don Ho, baptized by Billy Graham, served the Rat Pack at the ChiChi Club, was an “extra” in a few movies, and always laughed heartily. She hosted many parties-if there was food, it was a party, gave thoughtful gifts, and relished being the life of the party. She set her appointments around her ‘shows’, and talked to her sisters almost every day. She was always interested in what someone was doing and frequently asked questions-only to answer them herself! She weighed things out, looked for the angles and loopholes, made her decision, and didn’t look back. Write her address in pencil we learned as she moved incessantly. She had her own vocabulary, and a unique way of pronouncing certain words. (Can you say: “or-door” = Hors d’oeuvres). She enjoyed taking trips, but not staying too long, played her numbers at Keno and always had a Lotto ticket. She lived like she drove - fast, over the speed limit, with a heavy foot on the gas, sometimes glancing over her shoulder, and rarely using the brake.