Jean Elizabeth McGonegal Whiteley WALLACE

1923 - 2016

WALLACE, Jean Elizabeth
McGonegal Whiteley
Jean Wallace passed away on December 19, 2016 after a brief illness. She was a kind and caring woman who was always looking for a way to help others. Jean was born on July 30, 1923 in Elgin, Illinois and lived there until she was 8 years old. She then lived with her grandparents who moved to McAllen, Texas where she grew up and became fluent in Spanish. She attended the University of Texas at Austin and graduated in 1945 with a Business Administration degree.

After graduating, she worked for the Austin Chamber of Commerce for a nearly 15 years; she retired from National Western Life Insurance after 26 years of service, where her Spanish language skills allowed her be the interpreter for several vice presidents of the company. When her sons were teenagers she helped with their fossil collecting and after they lost interest, she continued on with this hobby. She and second husband Emmette traveled the world in search of fossils and new friends, even going to Australia. She was quite passionate about her fossils, receiving numerous awards for her trilobite and ammonite collections and was the secretary for the Austin Paleo Club until she suffered a stroke in 2006.

She married Wilson Audave (Son) Whiteley in 1951 and was widowed in 1974. In 1988 she was married to Emmette Wallace. She is preceded in death by her mother Rena Dickinson McGonegal, her father Charles Edgar McGonegal, first husband, Son Whiteley and second husband, Emmette Bledsoe Wallace. She is survived by sons Tony Whiteley and Mike Whiteley.

Services will he held at 3:00 on Wednesday, December 28, 2016 at King-Tears Mortuary, 1300 E 12th Street, Austin, Texas.