Jean R. Meek

Jean Rosalyn (Grimes) Meek was born February 18, 1929 and passed December 6, 2015. To all whose path crossed hers, she embodied kindness, compassion and unconditional love. She was most widely known as a teacher, though her disciplines were far-flung: music, the classroom, piano, chorus, and countless individualized curricula for thousands. Jean’s classroom extended across the globe when she and her husband Woody lived and taught English in China. They touched an enormous number of young students’ lives, creating a long-lasting bridge that has spanned decades and yielded a community of Chinese English speakers with a surprising northern Michigan accent. She was born in Lansing, Michigan to Myrlan and Bertha (Stowell) Grimes and grew up in the same town with her brother and sister, Robert and Janet – both of whom survive her. She married Forrest B. Meek in 1953 in Lansing, Michigan. Like Woody, she found her calling as a teacher and moved with him and their four children to Clare, Michigan in 1963. She is survived by her children, Sally (Don) Dunlop, Thomas (Giovanna) Meek, Nancy (Allen) Nickels, and Charles (Kimberly) Meek; her grandchildren Nora (Karl Klockars) Dunlop, Diana Horton, Maxwell (Karla) Dunlop, Spencer Meek, Tong Meek, Alexander Meek, Moira Meek and Conner Meek; her step-grandchildren, Jennifer Kirkwood and Allen Nickels; her siblings Robert (Joyce) Grimes and Janet Grimes, and many beloved nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Forrest B. ‘Woody’ Meek, her daughter-in-law, Kathie Van den Brink Meek and her grandson, Paul Horton. Her family is especially grateful to her friends and caregivers at The Horizon Senior Living Center in Clare, Boardman Lake Glens in Traverse City, Hospice of Michigan, and the Clare United Methodist Church. Memorial services will be held on Saturday, December 12, at 11:00 AM at the Clare United Methodist Church with Pastor John Kasper officiating. Friends may meet with her family on Friday, Dec. 11, from 4 to 8 PM in the Meeting Room of the Pere Marquette District Library (Corner of E. Fourth St. and Pine St., Clare, Michigan). Memorials in Lieu of flowers, may be made to the Clare United Methodist Church or to Hospice of Michigan, 10850 E. Traverse Hwy., Traverse City, Michigan, 49684.

Jean R. Meek

February 18, 1929 - December 6, 2015