Jean Barker Drummond
July 12, 1926-Dec. 14, 2020
Portland, Oregon

Jean was born in Palo Alto, California to Chester Wing Barker and Katherine Crabtree Barker. She had one younger sister, Margery Barker Blockley. Jean graduated from Palo Alto High School in June 1944 and from Whitman College in 1948 with a Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude in Sociology. While at Whitman, she was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society and Phi Mu sorority.

After raising her family, Jean returned to school and graduated from U.C. Berkeley in 1983 with a Master of Social Work degree, with emphasis on aging, having received a fellowship from the American Cancer Society. After graduation, Jean became a social worker, focusing on the frail elderly. Her work ranged from assisting patients through convalescent centers and adjustment after discharge to counseling and use of community resources to activities director to hospice counseling, and psycho-social assessments for residents in several retirement communities.

Jean took drawing and painting classes for many years– charcoal, pastels, and oils. Favorite subjects were natural sites, such as coastlines, mountains, flowers, and forests. Travels included the Panama Canal and Caribbean, Denali National Park, various locations in New Mexico and Arizona, and the Sierra Nevadas, as well as many spiritual retreats. Jean was passionate about nature and preservation, and often wrote poetry. As a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto and the church choir, Jean’s faith remained strong, even when she could no longer attend services. She remained in touch with Phi Mu sorority sisters and attended Whitman class reunions. She taught her kids to think about others, not just ourselves, and to be responsible for our actions.

Jean resided at Sunny View Retirement Community in Cupertino, CA from 2004-2019, where she volunteered in their library and helped with other projects. She moved to Cherry Blossom Cottage in Portland, Oregon in 2019.

She is survived by her daughters Kathy Evans (Robb Canfield), Carol Maresh (Guy), and son Bruce (TJ).