Jean Bourner

ean Alice Ewert was born Friday, November 15, 1935 to Robert and Julia (Pursell) Ewert. She was the youngest of four children: Ralph, Gladys, and Robert.

She remembered her first 10 years of life in Chicago with delight, and she often visited there in her mind these past few years. Alzheimer's had stolen most of her memories away, but not that happy time as a child. She loved to reminisce about walking from her Kalamazoo home to Eagle Lake to go swimming with family and friends. Those memories, and others from her youth, stayed close and precious to her. Her family moved to Kalamazoo around 1945, and she stayed close with her Chicago family through visits, phone calls, and hand-written letters. After graduating from Kalamazoo Central (now Chenery Auditorium, known in our home as Old Central), she went to Parsons' Business College and became a Comptometer operator. She worked at The Upjohn Company for a dozen years. She made many friends there, and she enjoyed the work. She loved the movie "Hidden Figures". She'd never imagined she'd see the type of computer she worked on in a movie, never mind show how to use one. Her delight was like a toddler with a new toy on Christmas morning. Jean met Harold Bourner at a grief counseling group for the loss of his wife Marjorie and her dad Robert. After a few years of dating, they wed on October 8, 1966. When Harold proposed to Jean, he showed her drawings to expand his home with another two bedrooms and a bathroom.Harold asked that she stay home to be a farm-wife and step-mom to Cheri, Becky, and Bruce. She agreed, and cooked a big dinner every day for her family and any farm help. Jean could peal a peck of potatoes in no time to turn them into something good for dinner: mashed, baked, boiled, scalloped, and sometimes even potato chips. She fed all with food from the farm: garden vegetables, fruit from the trees, and meat from the farm. She wasn't exactly the best cook, but she cooked enough for the family and farmers gathering at the table, and they walked away full and ready to go back to farming. It's no wonder when her husband Harold passed away January 19, 2004, that she quit cooking regularly. She had been basically feeding an army for decades, and she retired from that work. Jean kept in touch with some of her friends for seven decades. Martha Austin, with whom Jean was friends with starting in high school, stayed in touch until a few months before Martha passed away in 2023, also from dementia. Jean was an active member of her local garden club for over 40 years, and she has friends who send her lovely letters and cards. As a teenager, and until she married Harold Bourner, she was a member of Oshtemo UMC where she enjoyed working with the youth group and volunteering on many committees. After she had her daughter Kim, Harold and Jean moved to Sunnyside UMC because they both had experience with the pastor there, whom they greatly respected, Reverend Con, and the church had many children. At Sunnyside, Jean was active in Sunday school (both teaching and attending), nursery time, Missions committee, Administrative Council, Funeral and Wedding meals, the Women's group, and more. She was regaled for her fruit pies and her potato soup (not even a teaspoon was ever left over, no matter how much she made.) She enjoyed many activities with her friends there and from other churches as well. She always stayed close to the people of the Oshtemo UMC where her sister had attended. Jean also worked a dozen years starting in her 50's (after she got her braces off) as a home health aide. She loved the work and her patients. Caring for others who were not feeling well, be it in person or through letters and cards, was an area where she shined. In more recent years, she had a passion for helping at the Drake House, a historic home in Oshtemo. There, too, she made many friends who brought her much happiness. She also enjoyed time with her family from her siblings to her nieces and nephews to many cousins on both the Ewert and the Bourner sides.

Jean is survived by her children Bruce Bourner, Becky Skinner, and Kim Bourner; six-grandchildren and their partners, seven great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews, great-nieces and nephews (and a few great-great-nieces and nephews,) and countless cousins who are mostly in or from the Chicago area. She's preceded in death by her parents Robert and Julia Ewert; husband Harold Bourner; siblings and their spouses: Ralph (Helen) Ewert, Gladys (Jim) Merica, and Robert (Marilyn) Ewert; daughter, Cheri Gallup; granddaughter Erin RietKerk, and far too many more. May she gather with her treasures in heaven and delight in all of them forever more.

Visitation will take place on Friday, March 28 starting at 4:00 PM located at Langeland Family Funeral Homes Burial and Cremation Services, 3926 S. 9th St, Kalamazoo, 49009. A funeral service will be held Saturday, March 29 at 1:00 PM with an hour of visitation taking place prior. A luncheon will be prepared for immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers or plants, please consider a donation to any of these organizations which Jean and Harold supported for the last many decades, and one that supported her in these last 4 years: The Alzheimer's Foundation; Heritage Community of Kalamazoo, specifically Memory Care; League of Women Voters, Oshtemo Historic Society, Oshtemo United Methodist Church, Planned Parenthood or Sunnyside United Methodist Church.