Jill (Terrett) Rohyans died gently in the tender company of her daughter Amy and sister Jane September 26th, her beloved husband\u2019s birthday, after an 8 month dance with primary peritoneal cancer.<\/p>\n
The great mystery of the brilliant cosmos became hers to unfold as she soared amongst the Billions and Billions of stars igniting the universe and her immeasurable wonder. Jill then softly landed in the heavenly arms of her loving husband Ken and angel daughters, Becki and Terri. <\/p>\n
Jill was born January 27, 1943 to Pete and June Terrett in San Angelo, TX, where her father was stationed with the U.S. Air Force. She attended schools in Billings and Great Falls, MT, but spent most of her school career in Glendive, MT where she graduated and furthered her education at Dawson Community and Carroll Colleges. <\/p>\n
While in Glendive, Jill was a member of Rainbow, received the Grand Cross of Colors and served as the Grand Officer at Grand Assembly. She also joined the Order of Eastern Star. <\/p>\n
After graduation, Jill married Carl Clapp and had a daughter, Terri. Inspired by her adored Down Syndrome brother Jack, Jill worked tirelessly with her mother to establish Eastmont, a pioneering program with the goal of deinstitutionalizing individuals with developmental delights. Eastmont aimed at providing essential care and attention in a community setting so individuals could be close to their families and decrease the necessity to go to the, then, Boulder River School and Hospital. <\/p>\n
After her divorce, Jill remained in Glendive and served as Vice President of the State Association of Retarded Citizens. Jill met Ken Rohyans, a national officer for the association and their friendship blossomed into a beautiful relationship. Jill and Ken were married December 5, 1969, blending their families in love. They then moved to Federal Way, WA. <\/p>\n
In 1971, after having their daughter, Amy, the family moved to Helena, MT where Ken took the job of Executive Director of the Montana Association of Retarded Citizens and Jill as secretary. In 1979, Jill was awarded the Jefferson Award by Gov. Thomas L. Judge for outstanding public service and commitment to the association. After much legislative lobbying on behalf of the association, Jill caught the fever and served as legislative secretary for over 20 years. Jill ended her legislative career as Secretary to the President of the Senate, her wonderful friend Bob Brown. <\/p>\n
In 1976, Jill and Ken adopted their Down Syndrome daughter, Becki. She was the light of their lives and a family favorite. Becki defied the doctors and lived 34 years, and we feel, directly because of the immeasurable love and lifelong devotion of her faithful mother. Becki\u2019s involvement in Special Olympics became a family affair and in 1996 the family was named the State Special Olympics Family of the Year. <\/p>\n
Jill\u2019s interests included, the arts; painting, music, crafting, scrapbooking, card making and photography, a great love of the cosmos which led her on many astronomical adventures, and travel, especially her trips with Ken to Hawaii and their European vacation culminating with Amy\u2019s college graduation at Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. <\/p>\n
Jill was a tireless fan of her beloved grandsons Tyson, Kahner and Reilly. G\u2019Ma was a constant at all baseball, basketball and football games and wrestling matches and strived to be a solid source of support and unconditional love, a love rivaled only by that of their mother. G\u2019Ma treasured her recent dates with Kahner and Reilly and so cherished her trip(s) to the Boulder River watching Tyson fish where she sat soaking up the surroundings. Jill\u2019s lifetime memories of summers on the river are as beautiful as the river\u2019s dancing glints of sunlight and as countless as the colorful rocks that encourage the river to sing. <\/p>\n
Jill was preceded in death by her parents, Pete and June Terrett, brother, Jack Terrett, husband, Ken Rohyans and daughters Terri Leary and Becki Rohyans. <\/p>\n
She is survived by her devoted daughter Amy Rohyans Stewart (Brian), son-in-law, Mick Leary, stepchildren, Barbara Denny (Marty), Patricia Coakley (Steve) and Kathy Wells (Harold), Dave (Karen) and Mark Rohyans, loving sister Jane Marks (Rick), her precious Applepants, niece Chris Phillips (Scott and son William), her beloved grandchildren Tyson Benson, Kahner and Reilly Leary, Vienna Stewart, Max and Nick Denny, Tess Lehn and Joshua Lytle. <\/p>\n
Thank you to her dear friends and family whom she so deeply loved and who have returned that love immeasurably. We are grateful for the gift of you. <\/p>\n
Services to be held Saturday, October 2nd at 4:00 p.m. at Plymouth Congregational Church, 400 So. Oakes. Jill want you to wear happy colors to her celebration! In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Helena Special Olympics, Independent Athletes, PO Box 3507, Great Falls, MT 59403. Local arrangements have been entrusted to Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.aswfuneralhome.com. <\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/255361_profile_pic.jpg","youtube_video_url":"","family_email":"","family_first_name":"","family_last_name":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case\/657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}