Jean is a 76-year-old grandmother, and great-grandmother who has lived in Bellefonte for 72 years. She has done needlework in one form or another since she can remember, beginning with efforts to hand-sew clothes for a small doll while her mother made dresses for herself and Jean on the sewing machine. Naturally, Jean progressed to sewing for herself and her three daughters. Once they had grown, Jean turned to quilting, and has been quilting for nearly 35 years.

The skill for quilting came from both of her West Virginia grandmothers. Watching, she knew it was something she wanted to try someday. She joined a small quilting group, where everyone would quilt their own designs, and thus Jean followed that path.

Her love of quilting has carried her on to where she is a founding member of the well known Center Pieces Quilt Guild, having served as its treasurer and the Challenge Chairman for the 2006 show.