Jean McEvers Sheehan, 86

June 2, 1934 - August 07, 2020

On Friday, August 7, 2020, Jean McEvers Sheehan, loving mother of three and grandmother of six, passed away at the age of 86, surrounded by her beloved family on cellular devices and her eldest daughter present by her side, at Willow Valley Community in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Jean was born on June 2, 1934 in Washington, D.C. to Ida Eliza Beatrice (nee Holton) and John Henry (Jack) McEvers, the youngest of four children and only daughter. The family was in Washington due to her father Jack McEvers’ position with the U.S. Department of Justice as Special Assistant to the Attorney General. McEvers later transitioned to private practice and moved the family to Kansas City, Missouri where Jean grew up and attended high school. In 1952, she entered Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where she graduated with a BA in Art History in June 1956.

In May 1952, Jean’s life changed with a trip to Annapolis, Maryland to attend her brother Bob’s graduation from the United States Naval Academy. Jean’s “June Week” escort was Bob’s roommate, Midshipman John E. (Jack) Sheehan from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. There began a courtship that continued through Jean’s college years, sometimes hampered by Jack’s long deployments at sea as a Naval officer and aviator, but helped by his presence nearby when onshore between deployments at the Naval Air Station in Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Romance blossomed, and on September 8, 1956, Jean and Jack married in Jean’s hometown of Kansas City, entering life together under the saber arch salute of their Naval officer groomsmen.

Jean’s life as a Navy wife began in Quonset Point, then Virginia Beach, near Norfolk, Virginia where her first child was born. A year later, in 1958, Jack left the Navy and the young couple moved to Boston, Massachusetts while Jack attended Harvard Business School. From there, Jack’s distinguished career took Jean and the growing family to Bronxville, New York and Louisville, Kentucky, and later to Washington, D.C. when President Nixon appointed Jack to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. They remained in Washington for twenty-two years, even after Jack left “the Fed” and re-entered the private sector as an entrepreneur focused in Pennsylvania where they also had a home in Ligonier. During this time, Jean managed the interior design of their hospitality ventures, and enjoyed buying for their three gift shops.

Jean and Jack returned to Annapolis in 1992 to a home overlooking the Severn River and the Naval Academy, where they lived for fifteen years before their final move to the Willow Valley Retirement Community in Lancaster County in 2007. There they joined a dozen couples who were lifelong friends from USNA Class of 1952 as residents, and Jean forged many new and now dear friendships in Willow Valley. During this time, she also took the reins of Korns Galvanizing Company, Inc., in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, as Chair of its Board of Directors.

Jean said of herself that she always did what she enjoyed doing, choosing to be a “traditional mom,” and avid volunteer, in the library at her children’s schools, caring for abused children as a hospital volunteer at Children’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., and serving on the Board of Trustees of the Hammond-Harwood House Association in Annapolis. Jean was also a founding donor to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., and a member of its Women’s Committee. From attending state dinners at the White House to traveling the world with Jack, from crewing and tennis at Smith to tap dancing and bell ringing at Willow Valley, to enjoying Garden Club and needlepoint, Jean lived a full and spirited life.

One of her grandson’s favorite memories was of bringing his new air soft pellet rifle on a visit, only to learn Jean was an ace markswoman who knew everything to teach him solidly to hit the target. She helped many people around her do just that in life.

Jean was preceded in death by her husband Jack. She is survived by her three devoted children, Kathleen Sheehan Ortel, John Kevin Sheehan, husband of Kathleen Koten Sheehan, and Carolyn Kelly Sheehan, wife of David Larson Silletto; six grateful grandchildren, Kelly Ortel Toole, Jack and Austin Ortel, Dillon Sheehan, and Eliza and Rose Silletto; and her extended family of cherished cousins, sisters-in-law, and nieces and nephews.

A celebration of Jean’s life will take place on Saturday, October 17, 2020 at 2:00 pm at Willow Street United Church of Christ, 2723 Willow Street Pike, Willow Street, Pennsylvania. A second service will take place at the United States Naval Academy Chapel in Annapolis, Maryland on June 21, 2021 at 10:30 am, followed by interment in the Naval Academy cemetery beside husband Jack, and luncheon reception. Contributions in lieu of flowers may be mailed to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, Attention: Tribute Gifts, 274 Wood Road, Annapolis, Maryland, 21402.