Jeanne Walters

Our mother, Jeanne Walters, 101, passed away on Tuesday, July 22, at RiverWoods.  She was predeceased by our father, Major William Henry Walters, and three children, William David, Jeanne, and Sue Ellen.  Her surviving children  comprise Bonnie, of Cambridge, Masssachusetts; Peter and his wife Kathryn, of Mifflinville, Pennsylvania; and Christopher and his wife Bonnie, of Centerville, Virginia.  Mother is also survived by 11 grandchildren,  seven great-grandchildren,  and one great-grandchild. Canine survivors include Cooper and Buddy.

Mother was born on September 12, 1912 in Rochester, New York to Clinton and Alice Larraine Piper.  She moved to Niagara Falls, New York just in time for the Crash of 1929 and was graduated from Niagara Falls High School in 1930, the year she married our father at 17.  Complying with the plans made prior to their elopement, Mother attended business school at Case, Western University for two years before the birth of her eldest son, Billy. The family then spent several years in Niagara Falls and Attica, New York, coming to Lewisburg just prior to the outbreak of World War II.

In the century of her existence, Mother accomplished a great deal.  Beyond her devotion to her family was that to her church, St. Andrew’s, Lewisburg, of which she was a Founding Mother and for which she served on many committees, baked hundreds of cookies and casseroles, ironed linens and decorated altars. She found great joy in St. Andrew’s , and she returned it in equal measure to her fellow parishioners.

Dogs were a constant in her life.  Mother delighted in her posing her beloved English Setters at shows all over the East.  Together she and Bill raised a number of champions of this beautiful breed, covering the walls of their Brown Street home with plaques and pictures of their triumphs in the ring. They shared prowess in shooting as well. Lifelong members of the National Rifle Association, competitions through the Lewisburg Rifle Club.

Together with Mrs. Manning Smith and others, Mother co-founded the Lewisburg Cooperative Nursery School, which initially operated in our kitchen, back room, and much of the side yard.    Her second career as a nursery teacher continued in Germany on U.S. Army bases when the family was stationed there  and on their return to Lewisburg in the late 60s.  Subsequently she taught in Head Start and Intermediate Unit programs for many years.

An intensely private woman, Mother surprised us now and then by  publishing a letter or two in what was then the “Lewisburg Standard Journal, ”usually urging the town to provide better facilities for its children.  She used that same vehicle to announce her  candidacy for the Lewisburg School Board, on which she served two terms.  She and Dad joined  an advisory Town and Gown committee as Bucknell established  dormitories on Loomis Field.  Perhaps the cherished buffer fence was her suggestion?

Whether engaged in civic or personal endeavors, Mother carried them out with warmth  and equanimity. She was up for anything and conveyed that spirit to all of us.  She will be profoundly missed.