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Jean Garner Pope

Date of Death: July 9, 2021

Date of Birth: January 26, 1945

Biography:

BRUNSWICK - Jean Garner Pope, age 76, of Arrowsic, Maine and Fernandina Beach, Florida died on July 9, 2021 in Brunswick, Maine. Compassionate, kind and fun-loving Jean. The world should have more of her. She brought energy, laughter, and joy to life, as she quietly made a difference in many people’s lives. She was passionate about people, the environment, travel, poetry, the Red Sox and kindness.

Jean was a devoted wife and friend. She shared a great love with her best friend Ralph. They shared many adventures, sometimes wild and challenging. She loved the great out-of-doors and thrived on their camping, canoeing, kayaking and boating adventures from the Arctic, to the St. John River in Maine, to the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas and beyond. Jean supported and participated in all of their adventures with enthusiasm and grit. 

She loved her family and friends, all of their children, cats, dogs, and all creatures great and small. Most especially, she adored Ripley, better known as “The Ripper,” her beloved springer spaniel.

Jean’s love of camping began early with family trips and summers at Fleur de Lis Camp in New Hampshire, where she made lifelong friends. At any opportunity, she would sing camp songs with hearty enthusiasm, but her signature song was a great rendition of Patsy Kline’s “Crazy,” which she never forgot (She always thought it would be great fun to be a lounge singer for just one night!). She loved music and treasured her times with the Alexandria Choral Society and St. Paul’s choir, Alexandria, Virginia, the Oratorio Chorale in Brunswick, Maine and the Keene Chorale in New Hampshire. She enjoyed poetry and creative writing and thrived on her course work at Midcoast Senior College.

Jean received her BA in Psychology from the University of Maine and her MA in Special Education from the University of Rhode Island. She was a longtime volunteer with CASA in Massachusetts.  She also taught ESL in Lowell Massachusetts, and later in Brunswick, Maine.

Jean was a teacher. She began her teaching career on Guam where she first worked as a Vista volunteer. When stateside, she taught in Providence, Rhode Island, Alexandria, Virginia, Bath, Maine, and Lincoln and Andover, Massachusetts.  She enjoyed teaching and through it developed close, wonderful and lifelong relationships.

Alzheimer’s disease robbed Jean of her keen mind and memories, but her sense of humor, and compassion stayed with her to the end. She leaves a legacy of love to her family, friends and students.

Jean was predeceased by her parents, William and Edith Garner, and two brothers, Nathan and James. She leaves her husband, Ralph H. Pope of Arrowsic, Maine and Fernandina Beach, Florida; two brothers, Edwin and Timothy Garner; nieces, Louise Loguidice, Elisabeth Weber, Lorinda Garner, Eleanor Pope and Elizabeth Pope; and nephews, Will, Robert, Stephen and Nathan Garner.

A memorial gathering to celebrate Jean’s life will be arranged at a later time.

Donations in memory of Jean may go to the Midcoast Humane Society.