Mrs Jean Anne Williams

Jean Anne Jerman Williams died peacefully August 28, 2013 at home in Queenstown, MD, surrounded by her family, husband John, son Wes, and daughter Frannie. Jean was born in Charlotte, NC, to Hubert and Polly Jerman on December 6, 1944. She grew up in the Myers Park neighborhood with her sister Frances and brother Ben and attended Myers Park High School. She graduated from UNC-Greensboro. She met John Williams of Durham, NC, in her junior year. They were married January 28, 1967. She lived and worked in San Francisco while John served in Viet Nam. They relocated to Hampton, VA, where their first child, Wesley Vaughan, was born. John left the service and they moved to Connecticut where, in 1972, their daughter, Frances Huntley, was born. The family also lived for a year in Wellesley, MA, and two years in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, before returning to Connecticut in 1977 and settling in Darien for the next seventeen years. Wherever she lived, Jean formed enduring friendships, and those forged in Darien were some of her closest. Jean was very active in the Darien community serving as elder of her church and president of the PTA. She also enjoyed playing tennis with her friends and taking skiing trips with her family. John and Jean relocated to Denver, CO, in 1991 where they lived for almost fifteen years. There, too, Jean made many enduring friendships. A fondness for biking and barge trips brought them to Europe many times. Jean also took up golf. During these years, Jean became a grandmother for the first of four times. The lure of grandchildren eventually brought them back to the East Coast and they moved outside Savannah, GA in 2005. Enjoying eight wonderful years in the Landings (Savannah), Jean fine tuned her bridge skills, became more of a golfer and, more surprisingly, a bird watcher with egrets and herons on the small lagoon outside their window. She and John took part in the busy social scene and kept traveling far and near to Maryland and Boston where her children lived. Several months ago, Jean moved to Maryland to be near her daughter’s family. She and John now enjoyed a quieter life, still filled with herons, but now also filled with almost daily visits from their two eldest granddaughters who lived a mile up the road. Frequent visits by her son and his family gave the three granddaughters many chances to play together, creating treasured memories for Jean as winter turned to spring and spring to summer. Jean’s last days were filled with her friends and family, many of whom were able to visit her. And, finally, she was able to take joy in the birth of her fourth granddaughter in early August—just a scant week before her death—and was delighted with all the pictures sent her way. If courage is quiet dignity and grace in the face of extreme personal hardship, then Jean was unbelievably courageous. If beauty should be found both inside as well as outside, then Jean was beautiful. If loving means total dedication to family and friends, even if at your own expense, then Jean was very loving. If teaching means living a life that your children and grandchildren will strive to emulate, then Jean was a teacher. Those who knew and loved her will find peace and take comfort in that Jean remained Jean to the end. Nothing could take that from her. Time will heal but time will never forget Jean Ann Jerman Williams. A Celebration of life 4 pm Saturday, September 7 Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, P.A., Centerville, MD. www.fhnfuneralhome.com In lieu of flowers, please send donations to 4 Pete’s Sake ALS Foundation www.facebook.com/4PetesSakeALS.

Mrs Jean Anne Williams

December 6, 1944 - August 28, 2013