Jean Burlingame Wye

WYE

JEAN BURLINGAME WYE

Jean Burlingame Wye, age 76, left us on April 11, 2023 after a short and brave battle with ovarian cancer. Jean was born in Zanesville, Ohio and grew up on a farm in Otsego. She was the daughter of Wayne and Elsie Burlingame and sister to older brothers Hal and Jerry Burlingame. While her brothers helped their father tend the farm, Jean helped her mother snapping peas and canning vegetables in a beautiful old farm house sitting on 300 acres.



But Jean set her sights beyond the farm. Jean attended Kent State University, where she met her loving husband Chris, and later taught home economics. Teaching allowed Jean to support her husband while he finished his Ph.D, which would eventually allow them to move to Washington, DC to start a family. Jean and Chris raised two children, Pamela and Jonathon, on Capitol Hill in a home that Jean and Chris renovated together.



Jean bucked a lot of expectations of women to become a self-taught general contractor. Her 45-year career included the renovation of countless kitchens, bathrooms, and English basements on Capitol Hill. She often had to correct people that she was not an interior designer, an assumption folks often made about a woman in her field. With no business cards and one of the first cell phones, Jean built her business by word of mouth. Jean was often seen cruising around Capitol Hill in her mobile office, an old wood-paneled station wagon—"It can hold a 4x8 sheet of drywall!"—and was a fixture at the local hardware store, Frager's. Jean worked tirelessly for her clients, often falling asleep on the couch at night to her favorite PBS murder mysteries after a long day of work.



Jean wanted more time to see her two grandchildren, Mason (9) and Wyatt (6) Wellborn become young men, but she was so happy to see their personalities blossom. Jean was kind, selfless, and extraordinarily hard working. She loved her family, a good brownie, to marvel at the moon, and a good nap.



Jean's husband, Chris, of 53 years and children are in DC where they are ever-present parts of each other's lives. She is dearly missed, and we will carry her in our hearts forever.



A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Expressions of sympathy can be shared with the family at www.rappfuneral.com