Jeanne Marie Doucette Wilbur

Jeanne (Marie Doucette) Wilbur, age 98, died peacefully at her Durham home with loving family at her bedside, on July 20, 2024, following a long illness. 

Jeanne was born August 9, 1925, in Chicago, Illinois, to parents Claude Laurence Doucette and Rosalba Bourdeau Doucette. She was the third of nine children. Jeanne enjoyed a very active childhood amidst the backdrop of a large and loving family. During her childhood and early teen years, Jeanne was an outstanding natural athlete, recognized on the City level for her innate ability. 

Jeanne was an excellent student, who proceeded from Mundelein College for her undergraduate degree, to the University of Chicago for her Master’s Degree, finishing up at Duke University with her PhD in Microbiology. While at Duke, Jeanne met the love of her life, Robert L. Wilbur, and they married in 1955. They enjoyed a very happy marriage, their earthly union only ending when Robert passed away in 2022. The family is comforted to know that they are united again in heaven.

Jeanne was a woman of deep faith and was a devout Catholic all her life. Jeanne was a member of Immaculate Conception Parish since her move to Durham from Chicago in the early 1950s. In fact, Immaculate Conception Church is where her husband Robert first saw her. Through the years Jeanne enjoyed the community of the parish, and the volunteer opportunities she found within the parish and the associated parish school, Immaculata. All of her children attended Immaculata School. 

Jeanne loved her friends, and her family is very grateful for all they meant to her, and the manner in which they enriched her life. Jeanne also loved a travel adventure, and cherished her trips to Europe, to the American West, to Hawaii and Canada, but most of all, to the North Carolina shore. She spent some of the happiest days of her life there with her family, especially her grandchildren, who developed the same love for the beach and the North Carolina coast.

Although Jeanne went back to work in a Duke lab after her children were grown, retiring at the age of 70, her greatest role was as a wife and mother. There are too many facets of this complex lifetime achievement to describe or do justice to, but she pulled it off in an exemplary fashion. Jeanne was deeply cherished, and will be greatly missed by her loving family. Her memory will be a blessing to us all.

Jeanne was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Lynch Wilbur; her son, Mark Laurence Wilbur; her father, Claude Doucette; her mother Rosalba Doucette; her brothers and sisters: Claude Jr, Robert, Dolores, Thomas, Paul, Lois, and William Doucette; her aunt Isabelle Doucette; and numerous other aunts and uncles. Jeanne is survived by her brother, Donald Doucette; her sister-in-law, Anita Doucette; also by her children Martha, Ralph, Ellen, Margaret Wilbur, and Lenore Plymire; as well as her son-in-law Fleet Plymire, and her dearly beloved grandchildren, Hailey, Mason, and Fleet Plymire. Additionally, by numerous nieces and nephews. 

A private Mass and interment will be held at a later time.

Should you wish to make a donation in Jeanne’s memory, in lieu of flowers, Jeanne would have very much appreciated donations to:

Meals on Wheels of Durham: https://www.mowdurham.org/

Catholic Charities, Diocese of Raleigh: https://www.catholiccharitiesraleigh.org/dcfp/

Animal Protection Society of Durham: https://www.apsofdurham.org/how-you-can-help/donate/