Jean Richter

Jean Richter passed away on February 24, 2024 at 91 due to a well worn heart that warmed her hearth, home and those around her.

She was born in California in 1932 to parents, Joseph and Ermel who came west, in a Model T the day after their wedding in 1928. Early years were spent on the California coast. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the family moved to La Plata, Missouri and began farming. Jean helped work the fields with horses alongside her father. She graduated from La Plata Public schools in 1950, then attended Northeastern Missouri State College, earning degrees in Chemistry and Zoology. In 1953, Jean met and married her life long partner Jim and moved to Kansas City where she completed her medical technology training, then in Columbia served as an adjunct professor at the University of Missouri and developed the first standard for medical technology lab protocols, hand typed. Jean continued to accrue licensing, including under difficult California standards as the couple traveled in the early years.

The family settled permanently in Western Iowa in 1965, where Jean began a 30+ year career with Jennie Edmundson Hospital in the lab, specializing in blood bank, bacteria identification and testing.

The Richter family lived on a small farm in Northern Mills County for almost 50 years, prior to moving to Council Bluffs in 2023.

Jean loved fiercely and without reserve, be it family or friend, feathered or furred. Gardening, animals, wildlife, cooking and the freedom of a rural life were constant themes. She was keenly interested in native plants of Western Iowa and worked to protect and restore prairie habitat. Jean was a docent at Henry Doorly Zoo, a teacher naturalist at Fontenelle Forest, vice-president of League of Woman's Voters and Studebaker Drivers Club, participated in the National Audubon Society and annual bird counts. Her curiosity and love of nature lives on through her daughters' love of gardening, nature, animals and the outdoors.

She was a voracious reader and loved a well told narrative with adventure and mystery. In her later years, she and Jim travelled internationally creating their own stories of adventure and mystery with food, fauna, geography, culture and friends.

Jean is survived by her husband, James and their two daughters, Karen Richter of Council Bluffs and Janice Bryant of Longbranch, Washington; 5 grandchildren; and 6 great-grandchildren.

Sharp until the end, with wit, humor, candor and caring, we celebrate the joy she brought to us all. The family will have a private service. Donations may be made in her name to the Glenwood Public Library.