Jean Mcneill

Jean Louise McNeill passed away at her home in Caro on December 11, 2006 at the age of 82. While in fragile health in recent years, Jean spent most of her lifetime helping others, as a nurse, a nursing instructor, and health care programs administrator. Jean was born November 2, 1924 in Pointe Aux Trembles, Quebec, Canada. She was the youngest of four sisters born to William and Bella McNeill. The family moved to the United States a few years after Jeans birth. She graduated from Lincoln High School in Ferndale, Michigan, in 1942 and from the Harper Hospital School of Nursing in Detroit in 1946. Upon graduation, Jean became first a Staff Nurse at Harper Hospital and then Head Nurse. Later, Jean received both her B.S.N. with distinction and her M.S.N. with concentrations in clinical teaching and nursing in child psychiatry from Wayne State University where she served as an Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing in the mid 1960s. She also taught future nurses at Highland Park Community College and as an Assistant Professor at the Grand Valley State College School of Nursing. In west Michigan, Jean served as Program Director and Director of Nursing at the Muskegon Regional Center for Developmental Disabilities and then as Director of Nursing for the Muskegon County Health Department. After leaving that position in 1981, Jean moved to Caro where she continued her professional career at the Caro Regional Center until her retirement. Jean is survived by a sister, Eileen Baker of Grand Rapids and many nieces and nephews. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by two sisters, Viola Amman and Hazel Wilton.