Our community, family, and friends have sadly lost Jeannette Winans, age 94, on January 7, 2020. She calmly and peacefully slipped away, in the presence of her beloved family, after graciously dealing with dementia for way too long, while staying at Towsley Village, Chelsea Retirement Community of Chelsea, MI.
E. Jeannette May was born in her Aunt Marie and Uncle Steve’s home in Rockford, OH to Bert and Esther May on May 25, 1925. Jeannette’s early life was spent with a family on the move, following a road-building father, OG May. They lived all over the upper Ohio, Indiana, southern Michigan, and Pennsylvania region (moving too often for Jeannette) to where the jobs were, which were steady during the Depression and WW2.
She was taught to make her own clothes by her mother, Esther, and they raised animals, grew vegetables, canned, swept dirt yards and plank floors in their rented houses, and walked “miles” or rode buses to school. She was always clever about having learned to drive a pickup with the “3-on-the-tree.”
As her family grew older, they ended up in Chelsea, whereupon her mother laid down the law, and there was to be no more moving. Then the girls and brother Leroy could stay in one place and go to high school. That was that.
Jeannette graduated from Chelsea High, proceeded to Chicago for business school, and returned to the area to work in offices at the U of M, Bauser, and Federal Screw Works in Chelsea.
After the war, she met George Winans (her husband, George, of 70 years) in Chelsea, and they enjoyed one another’s company with family and friends alike. Giving the gift of life to three sons, being an integral part of owning and operating the very successful Winans Jewelry Store, assisting with Village of Chelsea clerk’s duties for 10 years, and being a devoted, loving, encouraging, attentive mother of those boys was the stuff that fueled her life. Jeannette was centered and grounded in her values of what makes up a family, and she tirelessly supported all the things that would make her kids well-rounded individuals.
She has been respected for her compassion and love for her oldest son John, who was developmentally disabled and needed an extraordinary amount of guidance, love, and direction. She and George rose to whatever needed to be done so that John could be solid, relatively self-sustaining, kind, and secure. They, as a couple, never, ever let up in their pursuit of all things in his best interest. And he prospered because of them.
Jeannette enjoyed reading, cooking, driving, traveling to 49 states with George, laughing, discussing, and relaxing. She excelled at being an extraordinarily outstanding mother and wife. She loved creating needlepoint projects, cooking, and making all those around her feel joyful and carefree in her companionable presence. Jeannette was respected and very well liked in our small community, and she served it well by helping to set the foundation for the nursery school on Dexter-Chelsea Road and volunteering at Chelsea Community Hospital.
Jeannette is survived by her children, Curt (Menuka) Winans of Chelsea, Rob (Lori) Winans of Chelsea; two grandchildren; and her beloved nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her dear husband, George, son, John, sisters Ruby Strieter and Mary Hoelzer, and her brother, Leroy May. A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, January 18, 3:00 p.m., at Staffan-Mitchell Funeral Home, Chelsea, with Tina Zimmerman, Chaplain of Chelsea Retirement Community, officiating. Visitation will be 1-3 p.m. at the funeral home the day of service. Expressions of sympathy may be made to St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea Hospital.
