Jean Landon Dolan

Jean Dolan
Jean Landon Dolan, born Shirley Jean Landon on Jan. 29, 1932, in Janesville, Wis., died Sunday, April 12, 2009, in Lebanon, Ill., where she had spent the last few months of her life.
A 1949 graduate of Galesburg High School and a graduate of Western Illinois University (McComb) where she earned both bachelors and master's degrees "Ms. J" was a favorite teacher in Galesburg Schools particularly Silas Willard and finally Gale Middle School where she loved her sixth grade science classroom. She joined the Girl Scouts as a child and stayed active for more than 40 years - as a troop leader, neighborhood chairman and finally a camp director for the Shabonee Council. After retirement, Jean and John traveled and spent many summers camping and fishing with their grandchildren. She was an avid bridge player and was a volunteer for the Carl Sandburg College Literacy Society where she taught adults to read and later specialized in helping foreign nurses become proficient in English so that they could nurse in the United States.
Jean remained best friends with her sister, Joyce and with several of their GHS friends who formed "The Nifty Nine" and vacationed together once their children were grown.
She was preceded in death by both her husbands, Jim and John as well as her parents, Clyde R. and Desdemona D. Landon; and one sister, Joan C. (Fred) McGahey.
Jean married James O. Johnson in January 1954, in Galesburg, Ill., and the couple raised four daughters: Jamie (Hester McCosh) Johnson Ziegler of Chillicothe, Ill., Janet (Duane Esarey) Johnson of Raleigh, N.C., Jennifer (Tony) Peach of Shiloh, Ill., and Julie (Chris Benjamin) Johnson of Marietta, Ga. She later married John Dolan in January 1980 welcoming a step-son J. Michael (Nancy) Dolan. Her sister, Joyce (Dave) Goff of Galesburg also survives.
She was Grandma Dolan to six: Tom Dolan, Drew Ziegler, John Wittle, Beth Dolan, Julia Peach andSam Peach; two great-granddaughters: Ashley and Stephanie Dolan; as well as three nieces, three nephews, and several great-nieces and nephews.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Carl Sandburg College Literacy Society.

Funeral: A memorial service is being planned at Hinchcliff Pearson Funeral Home West in Galesburg, Ill. with a date yet to be set.
A virtual memorial is being arranged by her nephew, Dean Goff at the Preston Hanley Funeral Home in Pekin, Ill. www.preston-hanley.com where photos of her life will be available for viewing on-line.

SCHILDKNECHT FUNERAL HOME, O'Fallon, Ill.