Jeanne Lovrien Connor Baxter

Jeanne Lovrien Connor Baxter peacefully passed away surrounded by family on Friday, September 2, 2022, at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois from complications of heart failure. She is survived by her son Brian Baxter, his wife Susan, grandchildren Madeline, Kaitlyn, and Brett of Glenview, Illinois, son Ned Baxter of Madison, Wisconsin, and her beloved Papillon dog companion, Holly.

Jeanne was born on July 5, 1934 in Humboldt, Iowa, the daughter of Frank Stanley Lovrien and Harriet Byers Randall. Following her father's death, she was adopted by Arthur Connor and took the name Jeanne Carolyn Lovrien Connor. After her family moved from Humboldt to Hollywood Florida, she graduated from South Broward High School in 1952. While attending the University of Miami she met and married Richard (Dick) Llewellyn Baxter on May 7, 1953. After graduating in 1956 with a BA in Theater Arts, and becoming a proud sorority sister of Kappa Kappa Gamma, she and Dick eventually made their way to Glenview, Illinois.

Once in Glenview, she served as a teacher, principal, and assistant superintendent in the Illinois north shore districts of Winnetka and Glencoe. During this time, she earned her PhD in Social Policy and Administration from Northwestern University. Soon after receiving her doctorate, she joined the faculty of Northeastern Illinois University and for the next fourteen years, served as professor and the leadership education chair. While focusing her efforts on Chicago school reform, she was director of Project Colead, a collaborative leadership program for Chicago principals funded by the Joyce Foundation.

After retiring in 1998 from Northeastern, she and Dick moved full time to their home on Lake Namakagon in Cable, Wisconsin; however for Jeanne, the word "retired" was never in her vocabulary. For the next sixteen years she was an examiner for the State of Wisconsin's Forward Award and also partnered Quality Education Associates which focused on training schools to build Baldridge based quality schools. Jeanne continued her instruction by creating Quality Education Online, an online education course focusing on continuous improvement for educators. She also co-authored The Principal's Leadership Counts, Launch a Baldridge-Based Quality School in 2005

Jeanne was very active in the Cable area where she joined and became president of the Ashland Chapter of the Philanthropic Education Organization (P.E.O.) an organization helping the advancement of women. She also enjoyed hiking in her group Women of the Woods and Water, known as the "WOWWS." Her real passion was travel, and she enjoyed traveling with family and friends to many parts of the world including Kenya, Europe, Russia, South America, and Vietnam. She also was an avid gardener, and stayed very active in the community, participating in yoga classes, her investment club, and joining her swim group daily. She truly loved her friends and family and will be greatly missed.

Visitation will be Friday, September 16th from 4:00-7:00pm at the N.H. Scott & Hanekamp Funeral Home, 1240 Waukegan Rd., Glenview, IL.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, September 17th at 3:00pm at St David's Church, 2410 Glenview Rd., Glenview, IL. A celebration of Jeanne's life will be held in Cable, WI at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Cable Area Lions Club Scholarship Fund, PO Box 444, Cable WI 54821