Jean Burnham Morgenthaler

Jean Burnham Morgenthaler, 83, of Prairie Village, KS, died Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at KU Medical Center. Memorial services will be 11 a.m. Monday, January 27, at Village Presbyterian Church, 6641 Mission Road in Prairie Village. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorials to the Village Church Foundation or a charity of the donor's choice. Jean lived a full and wonderful life. She had a radiant 60-year marriage and was a devoted mother and grandmother. She was an avid artist, photographer, gardener, writer, golfer, sailor, canoeist, bridge player, family historian, traveler, and publisher of her own cookbook, "A Pinch of Salt," written in her hand and illustrated with her drawings. In her 80s, she started her own website, Queenjean.com, and updated it weekly. She had a lot of energy. She was born February 27, 1919 in Magee, MS, a country town her grandfather Ellis Burnham pioneered. As a toddler, she usually had a cat in her arms. As a biology student, she switched to snakes, which she sometimes wore as bracelets. She graduated from Whitworth College in Brookhaven, MS, and the University of Mississippi. On November 5, 1942, she married Robert Eric "Bob" Morgenthaler of Joplin, MO, a Navy ensign stationed in Washington, D.C. They moved to Kansas City in 1947, bought an early Prairie Village home, and painted it yellow because all the neighboring houses were white. Jean was a member of the Village Church for over 50 years. She was former president of the Ladies 18-Hole Golf group at Mission Hills Country Club and former board member of the Prairie Planters III Garden Club, the Nettleton Home, and the Prairie Village Planning Commission. She was a Fellow at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and for 15 years studied painting with artist Vincent Campanella. Her works were exhibited in the first three Thirty Miles of Painting shows at the Nelson. Her eye for color extended to gardening, a passion to the end. In a 1999 article, "Aging Gracefully With My Garden," written for the Garden Center Assn. of Greater Kansas City, she offered this "back-saving tip" for aging gardeners: "Buy 40-pound bags of soil instead of 80, and buy 20-pound bags of manure instead of 40." She was 80 at the time. Jean was preceded in death by her parents, Roma Russell and Timon Jefferson Burnham, DDS; brother Vic and sister Mary Sue Kees. She is survived by her husband, Bob: daughter Susan of Fairway; son Eric of Coral Gables, FL; son Jeff and wife, Jeanne Ann Buchanan of Boerne, TX; and granddaughters Ann and Jean Morgenthaler of Denver. She also is survived by sisters Jo Bowers of Watkinsville, GA and Dale Storey of Dallas; sisters-in-law Jean Korns of Joplin and Ann Rupert of Santa Cruz, CA; brothers-in-law Frank Bowers and Richard Korns; and many nieces, nephews and cousins. We miss her terribly, but we abound in happy memories. As does Lily, her granddog.