Longtime Welches resident, Jeanne Rathbone died on Tuesday November 20th, 2012 at Cascadia Village Retirement Center. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 8th at the Community Presbyterian Church in Sandy at 10:30 a.m. A private burial will be at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland.
She was born, Jeanne Elizabeth Schippers to Marian and Geritt Schippers on May 26th, 1920 in an area between Gresham and Portland called “Berkely Station”. She was delivered by her Grandma Hitch.
Jeanne grew up in the Portland area where she attended Gregory Heights Elementary School. Shortly after graduating from Grant High School in 1938, she worked as a legal secretary for the legal firm, Klarquist and Sparkman for many years. In 1941, Jeanne married Walter Thurman in Portland. They were later divorced.
In the 1970s, Jeanne was on a Mazama hiking trip on the Chilcoot Trail in Alaska and the Northwest Canadian Territories where she met Nathaniel Rathbone. They later married in 1975. Together they traveled and trekked the mountains of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Yugoslavia, Nepal, Thailand, India, Japan, China, England, Scotland, Ireland, Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
Jeanne was actively involved on the mountain and was a member of many clubs and organizations; Hoodland Lutheran Church, Mazama Hiking/Climbing Club since 1948, Treasurer of Hoodland Women’s Club, Daughters of the American Revolution, a past member of the Community Presbyterian Church in Sandy and she played the organ at Chapel of the Hills for Sunday services. Jeanne had a passion for hiking and enjoyed being on the mountain trails with her friends. She summited Mt. Hood 6 times, climbed other Cascade peaks and even bought her grandson, David, his first backpack on a hiking trip when he was 3 years old.
Jeanne is survived by her son Bob Thurman and wife Margaret of Brightwood, her brother Robert Schippers and wife Mary of Portland, her grandson David Thurman of Redmond, Washington and several nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her husband Nate in 2008.