Obituary

Jeanne LaFleur was born on April 27, 1922 to Isadore and Loretta Huff LaFleur in Williston, North Dakota. She passed away on May 2 in Bellingham, Washington. She is survived by her son Scott (Cherie), Scottsdale, AZ; grandsons Scott Loren (Shawn), Bellingham; Erich (Betsy), Baltimore, MD; and Chance (Kate), Nashville, TN, as well as great-grandchildren Shea Walker, San Luis Obispo, CA, and Brett Walker, Bellingham. She also leaves her grand- and great-grandchildren through Cherie: Andy (Meredith) and Matt Schanen, and children Mea, Milani, Jack, Grace, and Luke of Phoenix, AZ. All of us will remember her unconditional love, generosity, energy, and low tolerance for nonsense.

Jeanne was a child of the Depression and Dust Bowl, but was an eternal optimist. She developed a love of travel when her father, a French Canadian immigrant, took her on business trips selling pianos to farmers. At the end of her life, she had traveled to over 40 countries, and had seen six presidents in person (Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and George Bush II), which included shaking hand with two: Dwight Eisenhower and Mamie, and Jimmy Carter and Roslyn.

During college at the University of North Dakota, she met Scott Walker and married. Following World War II, he attended medical school, interned in Detroit and Butte, then established a practice in Anaconda, Montana. Jeanne became active in local events and serving in the Anaconda Women’s Club, the Montana Medical Auxiliary, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, and many others. She liked to tell the story of her attendance as the president of the Medical Auxiliary convention in Great Falls in 1960. She had to bring a different hat and clothing for each meal so as to keep up with other doctor’s wives from around Montana.

Jeanne and Scott divorced in 1962. Always the optimist, she moved to Helena, reinvented herself as a college student at Carroll College, and graduated with a teaching degree in 1964. After starting in the Helena school system she met and married Bill Glasscock, co-inventor of the Holter heart monitor. They were married almost 30 years and shared interest in family, history and travel. She was still active in local affairs, serving as Chairman of the Montana Heart Association, Helena planning commission, Friendship Force, helping in local political campaigns and entertaining her many friends.

Although no longer traveling internationally after age 88, she still visited Arizona, Montana, and the East coast to visit family until she was 95. She always thought that she had lived in the best of times where she could prosper, make a difference, live in a safe place, and experience the world.

In 1934, Jeanne was awakened by her mother in Williston and told to get dressed, she’s going to see the president. She and her brother Izzy and sister Willow waited by the train station until the presidential train came to a stop. President Roosevelt came out on the platform of the last car, and gave a short speech about his recent trip to Grand Coulee Dam. She still remembered that he looked down to the three children, waved and smiled. Thus began an interesting life.