Jean Conver
Age - 102
November 30, 2023
Jean Conver 1921 - 2023
Jean Conver, age 102, wife of 50 yrs to the late Milton Conver, mother of Steve Conver (Deb) and Tim (Susan), aunt of Connie Tucker Koch, sister-in-law and best friend to the late Dorothy Conver Tucker.
Grandmother to Brad Conver (Amy Regas) and Andy Conver (LeighAnn), great aunt to Tori Koch Dobson (Jermaine) & Olivia, great grandmother to Reese and Ryan Conver, Britt and Cayla Regas, and Connor, Kyle and Erin Loftus.
Jean's beloved parents, late Harry and Ida May "Vivie" (Brown) Carmean were the greatest influences in her life, providing values, experiences, and role models to a girl born on her grandfather's farm in Anthony, Kansas.
She grew up as an "Army brat", moving where her father's military career required, which included the Hawaiian Territory (pre-Pearl Harbor and statehood), Riverside and Mt. Clements, but San Antonio was considered her hometown.
Having Ida's Canadian relatives must have influenced her attending McMaster University, but the arrival of WW-II made it necessary to return to San Antonio, where she graduated from Our Lady of the Lake University. Jean was a classic "English Major", enjoying literature, poetry, but applying her skills for the Randolph Field newspaper, literary journals, etc.
In the closing days of her undergraduate work in 1942, she decided to skip studying for Finals in order to attend a "tea dance" where the co-eds would mingle with AAF flying cadets she met the Milt Conver and that was it.
They married in El Paso in August, before Lt Conver departed as a bombardier in one of the first groups of B-17Fs to arrive in England. With Jean sweating out the war, Milt returned to other AAF assignments, where Jean again found herself moving with the Army.
Jean always wanted to live in Ohio. Marrying a "Cincinnati boy" seemed to confirm that. What really secured her as a Cincinnatian was their first house on Dean Court in 1957, a large Victorian home that was ideal for holidays, raising two sons, large gatherings, and two dogs.
Milt gave her the first Irish Setter, a move that started a love of the breed that resulted in having eight of them over seventy years, interrupted by Marmaduke, the Great Dane. They enjoyed membership in the Cincinnati Kennel Club for a number of years. After Milt's death in 1992, Jean joined the Irish Setter Club of America and her final dog Clark won a Championship, checking off a "bucket list" item.
Jean experienced a miracle and a brush with death in the early 60's, when a "second opinion" urged by friend Betty Biehle resulted in discovery of a melanoma on her neck. An immediate, skillful, and successful surgery executed by the late Dr. Harry Fox, saved her life, at a time before today's treatments were available. In 1968, she was presented an award by the late Peter Grant and the Cancer Society as "cured cancer patient of the year for Hamilton County. Surviving sixty years after melanoma was a gift, for which she was always grateful.
Jean always claimed that "she came from a family of audiences", that Milt's side were the performers (the late Geo F. and Dorothy Conver). However, she developed an early "ear for music", probably from riding on the military school bus at Randolph Field. The kids had song sheets with lyrics and they learned and sang the songs of the era. Her interest continued to recent times, where she could identify contemporary vocalists.
Attending a concert at the Fraze (Kettering), she was invited up to the edge of the stage in her wheelchair, and serenaded by the artist. At Riverbend, she ended up backstage, spending a long time talking with Chicago's drummer. The photo of her with Kenny Rogers at Tanglewood impressed her cleaning gals in a way that nothing else she could have done in her life!
But, one of her more important steps in life was to go back to school and earn a Master's degree in Education at UofC, an accomplishment not common for an older student in 1969. Her minor involved Medieval and Renaissance literature!
This led to teaching in the Cincinnati Schools, primarily at Catherine Booth Hospital and Walnut Hills (10th & 12th grades), whose students and faculty she admired and ideally, influenced. She was a great fan of the WHHS basketball team and was awarded a letter sweater when she retired.
One of her teaching methods was to have her classes write to the authors of the books they were studying. Gordon Parks (photographer, film maker) replied to her classes' letters on multiple occasions, addressing individual students. Other "notable" authors were John Fowles, Harry Golden, John Cheever, Stephen Birmingham, etc. When studying Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales", every year the students would challenge her to recite the famous "Prologue" in Old English, as they followed along in the text hoping for her to slip-up. Great pedagogy!
During this period and after, she enjoyed travel, mostly to England, but also Ireland and Greece. Her vast personal library reflects these interests along with numerous other passions.
She considered herself a "rosarian", collecting English roses, especially the David Austin varieties. Yet, she approached this as a bare-knuckled, hands-in-the-dirt process, not as a "princess". When she moved to Kettering, two trailer-loads of rosed were transplanted into her newly built formal garden. Sitting in her garden in the later years was one of her great pleasures.
Earlier in Cincinnati, she loved to do "Ceramics" with Dorothy and Connie. There are still ceramic pieces around marked, "Jean of Toad Hall".
She read and underlined her books, liking to shop the used book sales and attend the occasional book signings and estate sales. Many of Jean's volumes are inscribed "The Enchanted Cottage at Twilight Hill".
She had a lifelong love of antiques, starting from her early years. As an early teen, on one of her many trips to Canada, she visited the estate of the (then) late Sir Frederick Banting, the inventor of insulin. His sister learned of Jean's interest and generously gave her three relics from the estate which we still have. There is an irony that the early gift of Banting's antiques, was followed-up by the medicine he invented that kept her alive to 102 years!
At some point, one realizes that it is impossible to describe all the details, mention all the people, and point out all the decisions that make up a life, especially one that has been "a mile wide and a mile deep".
Jean Conver had the gift of "Vitality" and shared it generously with her family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Many of us can say that she was our biggest influence on our own lives!
A Service will be held at T. P WHITE & SONS Funeral Home, 2050 Beechmont Ave, Mt. Washington on Sat. Dec. 2, 2023 at 2:30PM. Friends may visit on Sat. from 1:30-2:30PM.Show more
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