Jean Louise Weirich

PORTLAND, Ore. - Great Falls native Jean Louise (Allred) Weirich, 80, died of complications from Alzheimer's disease Oct. 13 in the Portland, Ore., area.
A memorial service followed by a reception is 1 p.m. Oct. 31 at the Tolocay Cemetery and Funeral Home in Napa, Calif.
Jean was born in Great Falls, on Nov. 7, 1928, to Dr. Ivan Albert and Helen Draper Allred. She was the oldest of five daughters and spent summers in Whitefish, Mont., riding horses and swimming in Whitefish Lake. She graduated from Great Falls High School in 1946, and from Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1949. She was a member of Mortar Board and a senior women's Honor Society, and she sang with the Stanford Chorale.
After graduating, she spent several months in Europe and upon arriving back in the U.S., she entered the medical illustrators' course at University of California – San Francisco. Upon completion in 1953, she joined the faculty as a medical illustrator. In 1954, she met Dr. William Leonard Weirich, a resident in surgery at UCSF, and they were married in 1955.
In 1956, with their firstborn son, Murphy, they moved to Minneapolis, Minn., where Bill was a National Heart Institute Fellow in cardiac surgery at the University of Minnesota. Jean illustrated open-heart surgery techniques for publication. On completion of his chief residency at the U of M, they returned to UCSF, where their second and third sons, Sam and Michael, were born. After spending three years at UCSF, they moved their family to Red Bluff, where their fourth son, Justin, was born.
Jean loved to illustrate antique Victorian homes and she found a large number of these in the Red Bluff area. She completed a series of these homes, of which she made stationery and donated to the Red Bluff Historical Society. She became a founding member of the Kelly-Griggs Museum, where examples of her architectural drawings may be seen today.
In 1966, they moved to Redding, Calif., and Jean continued her collaboration at the Kelly-Griggs Museum and raised her four boys. She pursued her love of music with the piano and organ, being keyboardist at St. Joseph Church in Redding. After 11 years in Redding, Jean and Bill accepted positions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center. Jean was the hospital medical illustrator and editor of the hospital newspaper. She played an important role in establishing the first quarterly medical journal in Saudi Arabia.
Jean and Bill returned to the U.S. after six years of service in Saudi Arabia. HCA, International in Nashville, Tenn., hired Bill as a medical consultant and Jean started a very successful docent training program at the Cheek Mansion (a museum and art gallery). After seven years, they retired to their seaside home in Roberts Creek, B.C. Six years later, they returned to Napa to care for Bill's terminally ill mother.
Jean leaves her beloved husband, Bill of Napa; her four sons, William Murphy Weirich and daughter-in-law, Jane of Santa Maria, Calif., Dr. Samuel Draper Weirich and daughter-in-law, Dr. Jone Sampson of Lake Oswego, Ore., Michael Allred Weirich of Shasta, Calif., and Justin Rhea Weirich of Shasta; her beloved twin granddaughters, Megan and Nichole of Santa Maria, beloved granddaughters, Elizabeth, Margarethe and Emma Claire of Lake Oswego; and her sisters, Marie, Carolyn and Helen.
She was preceded in death by a sister, Miriam.
Her family appreciated the way she educated them in art appreciation and music. Jean was an outdoor girl who enjoying skiing, horses and fishing. She was a great cook and a wonderful partner. Her sons were the pride of her life and she enjoyed raising them. She will be greatly missed by all those whose lives she touched.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer's Association would be appreciated.
Condolences may be posted online at www.gftribune.com/obituaries.