Jeanne McLellan

Jeanne Elizabeth (Betty) McLellan, 84, died Wednesday, July 24, 2013 in Sauk Centre. MN. Funeral Services will be held at 2:30 PM, Wednesday, July 31, 2013 at the Brenny Funeral Chapel in Crosslake, MN. Family and friends are invited to gather one hour prior to services. Interment will follow at Pinewood Cemetery.
Born Sept. 20, 1928 to Chester and Eva (Lindberg) Jack on the farm in Eustis NE, Betty grew up in Eustis NE and graduated from Eustis high school at age 16. She taught school in Lexington, NE where she met Richard Allen (Dick) McLellan. They married June 12, 1949 and resided in Curtis, NE. Later they moved to Gibbon NE and Betty returned to School and received her Bachelors degree in English and History from Kearney State College, Kearney, NE. Betty was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Eastern Star. In 1966, they moved to Sauk Centre, MN where she taught HS English and History. Betty went on to earn her Masters in English from St. Cloud State University in 1978 and then taught Freshman English at St. Cloud State. In 1985, Dick and Betty retired and moved to their lake home in Crosslake, MN where they were members of Crosslake Lutheran Church. For many years they wintered in Corpus Christie, TX.
Betty was very talented and creative. She was an avid reader and loved to write poetry. In the early 1980s Betty published her book of poems " Poems From the North Country" and in 1998 her poem; "Space Shuttle Flight" was recognized by The National Authors Registry. Betty loved to paint with oils on canvas. She also painted hundreds of the wooden cut outs Dick would craft for their sideline hobby "Wood n Stuff". Together they would take their crafts on the road and into consignment shops. Betty was so proud and loved her family. She enjoyed having her grandchildren at the lake house and taught them to fish, play games and bake cakes, pies and make pancakes. Betty was a strong survivor of many things. She endured breast cancer, colon cancer and a brain aneurysm.
Betty is survived by children; Jim (Lorie) of Maple Grove, Bob (Pam) of Sauk Centre and Lori (John) Paris of Bemidji; grandchildren Jason (Tara), Jacob (Kim), and Joe (Anne) McLellan, Gretchen (Eron) Bordson, Kerri McLellan and Danielle Paris. She is also survived by eight great-grandchildren, Savanna & Adam Metzger, Sydney and Luke Bordson, Ayla, Eli, Jay and Wyatt McLellan.
She was preceded in death by her husband; parents; and siblings Willard, William, Stacy, Robert, Edith Hanway and Evelyn Jack.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Centra Care Sauk Centre Nursing Home Activities Department or The American Cancer Society.