Jean Wilmer

1920 - 2015

Jean Revere Wilmer of Delray Beach, Florida, passed away on May 13, 2015. She was 95. Jean was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 3, 1920. She lived in Dongan Hills, Staten Island, and in 1941 graduated as an English major from Vassar College. Jean then worked for Vogue at the Graybar Building in New York City. During World War II, she drove a Red Cross ambulance helping wounded servicemen as they returned from battle to New York City. She married John Whittingham Wilmer of Baltimore on July 28, 1945. Jean and Jack, who passed away in 2009, lived in Ruxton, Maryland until 1957, and then moved to Delray Beach, Florida. They spent their summers in North Hatley, Quebec, for almost fifty years beginning in 1962. Jean was active at Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Delray Beach and admitted its first patient. She was a tireless and successful advocate for zoning which to this day has kept Delray Beach free of high-rise buildings. She also worked closely with a small group to establish the first child care program in Delray Beach. Jean loved travel in Europe, gardening, and the opera, and easily made friends wherever she happened to be. She sang with the choir at St. Paul's Church in Delray Beach and with choirs in New England and Europe, and had great fun in 1997 singing in the cabaret at the North Hatley Club's centennial. She is survived by her son, John Whittingham Wilmer, Jr. of Alexandria, Virginia; her daughter, Louise Wilmer Stebbins of Delray Beach, Florida, and grandchildren, Jack, Julie, Harry, Lyman, Justin, Tim and Adrian, and great-grandchildren Johnny, Annie, Nicholas and Henry. A funeral service will be held at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Delray Beach, Florida at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 16, 2015. Lorne and Sons Funeral Home, Delray Beach, FL in charge of arrangements.