Jeanne Bligh Reichenbacher

Jeanne Bligh Reichenbacher, 92, Scottsdale, Arizona passed away peacefully at HonorHealth Shea Hospital, July 14, 2025. A devoted wife, mother, family business owner, and accountant Jeanne is survived by her husband, Frank (Rick) Reichenbacher, of 71 years, her sons Frank and Thomas, sister Shirley, and grandsons Bill, Richard, and Eric; preceded by her beloved daughter, Terri. Born in Framingham, Massachusetts, December 14, 1932, to Thomas and Rena Bligh, Jeanne was a New Englander through and through as anyone would know on speaking with her. Despite 62 years living in Arizona, that Boston accent never changed. Jeanne grew up in Massachusetts with brothers Richard and Lawrence as well as Shirley and extended New England family from Maine to the Boston area. At Framingham High School in the late 1940s, Jeanne was an active member of numerous student clubs and committees. Upon graduation in 1950, Jeanne began college at Boston University, joining the business-bound students Pi Omega Pi honors society and Zeta Chi Delta sorority and being an active member of both. She graduated with an Arts and Letters major in 1954. At some point she found time for a blind date with her best friend and boyfriend and they brought along a young man majoring in Mechanical Engineering across the Charles River at MIT. That young man was Rick Reichenbacher, from Bedford, Ohio. They were married in September 1954 at St. Stephens Catholic Church. Jeanne and Rick lived in Framingham for a short period and then moved to Connecticut after he secured a position at Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in Hartford. They bought their first home in Windsor just up the Connecticut River. Children followed soon – all born in Hartford: Frank William, Terri Ann, and Thomas Michael – the Reichenbacher kids. By the 1960s Rick began looking around for new opportunities and in January 1963 the family drove their two cars all the way west to Arizona where he would work on rocket and aircraft engines at Garrett AiResearch in Phoenix. Jeanne only just learned how to drive in the days before they left Hartford. Somehow, everyone survived. By the late 1970s with the kids off to college and well-along in high school Jeanne and Rick made plans for him to leave AiResearch and go into business for himself and partners – Jeanne would be the bookkeeper/accountant for these endeavors. In 1976 they founded Bio-Concepts, and Jeanne turned her skills as a seamstress to the manufacture of custom-made compression garments – mostly for burn scar managements. That company, now run by her son Frank and daughter-in-law Lari-Ann with more than 40 employees, is the largest such manufacturer in the Western Hemisphere. Jeanne's great passion, aside from growing her businesses, was genealogy, for which she obtained a certificate of training from her old alma mater, Boston University. She crafted detailed histories of the Bligh and Reichenbacher families from Ireland to Germany and the U.S., maintaining lengthy correspondences with numerous relatives and genealogical colleagues. She and Rick also traveled a great deal, enjoying many cruises around the world from China to Mexico and Europe. A few days before she passed, Jeanne was able to sign the final documents creating an educational trust fund for her four (and counting?) treasured great grandchildren: Rilee, Brook, Theodora, and Lilah. Her greatest fulfillment is to have been able to leave behind the means by which these children will have the opportunity to grow and flourish. Jeanne is so very much missed.