Jean L Stewart

Laughter, smiles, connection – and a sense of irony were the keys to the life of Jean Leete Stewart, age 87, fortunate enough to have a beneficial education at Grosse Pointe High School, Smith College and post-degree study at Wayne State University in Detroit. Her life-long friends gave her so much pleasure and included a happy 64-year marriage to the kind, fun-loving Donald Bruce Stewart with whom she shared the love of art, choral music, dancing, sports and travel.

She started singing with the Grosse Pointe Memorial Church under director Malcolm Johns, and continued with the Smith College Glee Club, Noteworthy – a 12-member ensemble in Ibex Arts Group in Grosse Pointe, and the Alpena Community Chorus, as well as many church choirs to 2023. She and Don were co-presidents of the Villagers Dance Club and danced wherever it was allowed. They both loved painting and had many watercolor and oil paintings in the Art in The Loft and Besser Museum competitions. She and Don were active members of the Thunder Bay Arts Council and she was a member of NEMAG. They traveled the world including 49 of the 50 United States. Her life work included setting up and managing dental and medical offices downstate and school teaching from first to 9th grade.

Her work life with Don included co-managing LaQuinta Hotels, and a wholesale jewelry business named Small Bridge Studios all over Michigan and Arizona. They repped artists’ lines of jewelry at art shows.

She loved sports her whole life from synchronized swimming with Grosse Pointe High School and Smith College teams, to competitive swimming at the Detroit Boat Club where she was co-captain. Don and Jean played golf at Alpena Golf Club and Lost Lake Woods, and team tennis.

Her loving, exuberant, fun-loving family includes Don, their two sons Robert Bruce (Mindy) and Jonathan Bruce (Jane), and five grandchildren Ellen George Stewart (Dylan Brown), Anna Leete Stewart, Robert Bruce Stewart Jr., Grace Carolyn Stewart and Duncan MacKenzie Stewart. She joins her sister Anne Parcells and stepsister Mary Evely and is survived by siblings John Hopkin Leete (Trudy), Liz Hacking and stepsister Susan Schuur Plotkin (Jack).

Visitation will be Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 12:30 PM until the Memorial Service at 1:00 PM at New Life Lutheran Church in Spruce. Cremation arrangements were made through Gillies Funeral Home. Donations in her memory can be made to New Life Church of Alcona County at 25 Kirche In The Woods, Spruce, MI, 48762. Or Hospice of Michigan at www.hom.org.