Jean Powning, of Newcastle, passed on peacefully at home with family, and dear friends present, on the morning of Aug. 30. Full of grace and good humor to the end, Jean succumbed to her years-long affliction with Alzheimer’s disease.
Born Jean Lucille Buckman to Walter and Dorothy Vogelius Buckman in Philadelphia, Penn. on Sept. 17, 1942, Jean grew up in Mendham, N.J. Her formative years found her riding others’ horses for the most part, achieving some considerable success in dressage competition. Jean attended Morristown Regional High School where she distinguished herself artistically, and she went on to study at the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts the following two years.
In 1961 Jean took with her a modest family inheritance to Italy to “study art” in Rome. Two years later, returning from her European sojourn, she began employment at British Airways in New York City, and as a reservations system and sales manager, engaged in the promotion of the first commercial super sonic passenger flights. Jean furthered her art studies at the Students’ Art League while in New York until 1975.
She moved here to Newcastle in 1976, to work for her artist friend Margaret Griggs at Watershed, where she met her prospective husband David. Jean & David moved to southern Vermont briefly, where Jean was employed by Precision Airlines in Springfield as the manager of sales and reservations. The Pownings were married in Vermont the winter of 1979, daughter Margaret was born there shortly thereafter and the family returned to Newcastle in 1980. Son Joe was born in 1982 and Jean busied herself raising two kids, volunteering at Great Salt Bay School, co-chairing the Lincoln County Committee in the state referendum to shut down Maine Yankee, being a docent at the Walker Museum at Bowdoin; she audited classes there, & commenced her 20-year career as waitress in the Twin Villages: Back Street Landing, Salt Bay Café, Newcastle Inn, Red Plate Catering and the Anchor Inn. Concurrent to her food sales she taught as a Chapter One Teacher & Reading Specialist at the Great Salt Bay School, until she joined the staff of the Bristol School in 1992, where she settled in as the school librarian, until her retirement with her illness in 2007.
Jean was a big idea person. She produced half a dozen major school plays, got the Bristol School Nature Trail up and running, sowed the seeds of the enduring Diversity Week Program, wrote and won school grants for thousands of dollars to fund several projects, greatly further developed the library; computerizing the catalog and interfacing the Maine State Library, she engendered greater co-operation among the Union 74 libraries, and lobbied to have the wall between the library and the computer room removed, significantly improving student research inclination and ability. She was an indispensable component of every staff meeting. Jean was progressively liberal, intelligent, irreverent, creative, generous and tireless in her avocation of the education and welfare of kids.
She was predeceased by her parents; brother, Timmy Pierson; and niece, Susan Fuschetto.
Jean is survived by her husband, David of Newcastle; son, Joe of Newcastle; daughter, Margaret Jahreis; grandchildren, Camden and Zachary of Gardnerville, Nev.; sister, Judith Fuschetto of Bernardsville, N.J.; niece, Sara Fuschetto of Boston, Mass.; nephews, Tommy Fuschetto and family of Brownsville, Tex. and Shawn Fuschetto and wife Betsy of Waitsfield, Vt.; sister-in-law, Lynne Pierson and family of Tewksbury, N.J.; step-father, Tim Pierson of Mendham, N.J.; and beloved grandnieces, Nichole and Lindsay, whom Jean shepherded for many years as her own.
In lieu of flowers, or other considerations, donations would most appropriately be made to Planned Parenthood in Jean’s name.
A celebration in commemoration of her life will held at the Anchor Inn in Round Pond on the evening of Sat., Oct. 15, further details to be announced, save the date.
Condolences, and messages for the family, may be expressed by visiting www.StrongHancock.com.
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main St., Damariscotta.
