Jean M. Starke passed away on February 16, 2011 at Rosetta Assisted Living Facility in Helena of complications from Alzheimer\u2019s disease. She was 77 years old. <\/p>\n
Jean was born to Homer and Bessie Beckerleg in Barnes County, North Dakota on July 17, 1933, the second of two children. She attended school there, graduating from St. Catherine\u2019s High School in 1951. From there she went to nursing school at NDSU Fargo and majored in nursing. She passed her state exams with a 99 percent. <\/p>\n
Allan H. Starke and Jean were married in Valley City, North Dakota on June 18, 1955. They were blessed with four of their children before setting out for Glascow, Montana. A year later they moved to Helena where their fifth child was born. <\/p>\n
Jean\u2019s nursing career in Helena began at St. John\u2019s Hospital until its closing. Later she worked for Head Start and Helena Nursing Home, caring for young and old alike. <\/p>\n
She enjoyed flying trips with Allan to Orcas Island, WA, Oshkosh, WI, and Meadow Creek Campground in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. Jean enjoyed visiting her family, from San Diego to Washington D.C., Seattle to New York.<\/p>\n
Her hobbies included cross country skiing, eating tomatoes from her vegetable garden, volunteering at Rocky Mountain Care Center, and sewing. She was an expert seamstress, sewing most of her own and her children\u2019s clothes. Wedding dresses and suits for her sons were all made beautiful by her hand. There was always room for at Jean\u2019s table for one or two more, whether it was her kid\u2019s friends from college or her husband\u2019s friends from Jester\u2019s Bar. She was an awesome cook, most notably for her potato salad and Thanksgiving stuffing.<\/p>\n
Jean was a faithful member of the Cathedral of St. Helena and loved her God. Many friends were made at St. Ann\u2019s bible study which she attended regularly.<\/p>\n
After her retirement from Head Start, she could often be seen strolling her grandchildren through the neighborhood. She found great joy in each of them and was proud to be called Gramma. Tinkerbell the cat and Honey the dog were blessed to be in her home. <\/p>\n
She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Gerald and her sons Jim and Paul. Surviving are her husband of 55 years; her son, Ed and his wife, Cindy and their children, Anthony, Jenna and James; her daughter, Kate and her husband, Rodney Lamping and their children, Emma and Sam. Also surviving are her daughter, Theresa and her husband Jon Metropoulos and their children, Jon, Andy and Anna; and her son Jim\u2019s children, Jesse, Carly and Jamie.
We wish to thank Rosetta Assisted Living with their compassionate dignified care. They made Jean feel right at home in her final year. We would also like to thank Dave at Frontier Hospice for his care. <\/p>\n
A Funeral Liturgy will be noon Monday, February 21st at Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home. Burial will be at a later date at Jefferson City Cemetery. A luncheon will be held in the Brondel Center located in the lower level of the Cathedral of Saint Helena immediately following the memorial service. Memorials are suggested to the Lewis and Clark Humane Society, 2112 E. Custer Avenue, Helena or to the Rosetta Assisted Living Activity Center, 2530 Wildwood Lane, Helena. Condolences may be sent to the family by visiting: www.aswfuneralhome.com.<\/p>\n","photo":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/318912_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\/766","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=766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenafuneralhome.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}