Jean Neteva Tyhurst

Jean Tyhurst passed away peacefully from this life into a better one early on May 10, 2016 at her McCloud home. She was 85 years old. Jean was born in San Luis Obispo, California on March 8, 1931 to Clarence J. and Viola C. (Lathe) Brownell. Her dad was a civil engineer, working for State agencies in California and Illinois before joining the Navy as a Civil Engineer Corps officer in 1940. After training at several sites on the east coast, he was transferred to Puerto Rico, and the family was living there when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Shortly thereafter, Jean, together with her mother and brother, were evacuated to the continental U.S. and settled in Illinois. When her dad transferred to San Diego, the family joined him until his release from active duty shortly before the end of WWII. They moved to Sacramento where her dad resumed his State career. Living in three homes there before graduating from college; Jean vowed never to marry a civil engineer or a naval officer, since by then she had lived in 23 different houses. Jean graduated from Sacramento State College in 1952 with a BA degree, majoring in Home Economics and a minor in Education. She was hired as a Home Economics teacher at Berkeley HS. Her high school sweetheart and then fiancé, Jim, was completing studies in civil engineering at UC Berkeley on a Navy scholarship. Her marriage to Jim in 1953 began her 21 year career as a Navy wife, living in 17 more houses. Following Jim’s retirement in 1974, they moved to McCloud, where they rented a house before buying the home they lived in for more than 41 years before her death. So much for her vow never to marry a civil engineer or a naval officer! An accomplished musician, Jean played the pipe organ at the McCloud Presbyterian Church for over ten years, practicing two hours a day, six days a week. She said she was playing for God, so it had to be her best. She was an ordained Ruling Elder and Deacon in the church. An excellent pianist, she taught piano for approximately 20 years. Jean was an amazing cook and seamstress, an accomplished watercolor artist, a gracious hostess, and best of all, a wonderful wife and mother. Jean leaves behind her loving husband of over 63 years, Jim; children, Chris (Robin) of Montague, Steve of McCloud and Beth (John) Franklin of Greenview; seven grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. Her brother, Dr. James (Johanna) Brownell of Sacramento, her sister-in-law, Anne Sanders of Sacramento, a special “sister,” Joyce Rorman of Lakewood, Colorado, and an extended family of brothers, sisters, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, related only by love. A memorial service will be held at the Community Presbyterian Church in McCloud at 11 am on Saturday, May 21, 2016. In lieu of flowers the family requests any memorial donations be made to the McCloud Community Presbyterian Church, the Mercy Mt. Shasta Hospice or the McCloud Healthcare Clinic.

Jean Neteva Tyhurst

March 8, 1931 - May 10, 2016