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Jean Eurich

Jean Marie Eurich, 90, formerly of Cherry Hill in Chester, passed away on June 12, 2024, at Gladeview Healthcare Center in Old Saybrook after a brief illness. Born in Warwick, New York, on Sept. 21, 1933, to Samuel and Juliet (Wheeler) Eurich, the family moved to New Haven in the summer of 1944.

Jean graduated from Hillhouse High School, Class of 1950. She attended Stone School of Business and began a career in banking from 1951 to 1969, as senior bookkeeper and teller at First National Bank. She volunteered to train in Colorado for the VISTA program and worked with the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes, located on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in Mandaree, North Dakota, between 1969 and 1970, as both mentor and teacher.

Jean went back to school as a student of psychology at Southern Connecticut State University, earning both a B.A. (’ 72) and an M.A. in psychology (’ 74). She became a grad assistant for SCSU’s psychology department for two years, then hired there as an adjunct professor of psychology from 1974 to 1977. What she considered her best work began in 1974 as the psychology research technician for Dr. Ed Zigler, Ph.D, of Yale University, and Dr. Jacob Levine, Ph.D, of the West Haven VA Medical Center, famous in their field of clinical psychology, with many published works. When funding dried up in 1981, Jean went back to school at Quinnipiac College for a course in credit management. She returned to banking in 1984 and, in the ’90s, worked for the Hamden Board of Education in the payroll department, where she retired in 2000 and eventually moved to Chester to be near family.

Jean’s love of research made her a true polymath who never lost her sense of curiosity. She was a lifelong learner and avid reader of all genres. She saw beauty in all things and particularly loved the visual arts, museums, opera, theater, travel, and humans. She delighted in young children, namely their smiles, frankness, and unbridled joy. A woman ahead of her time, forever interesting, independent, and full of style, she stayed abreast of current events and preferred the contemplative music of singer-songwriters like Dylan, Lightfoot, and Cat Stevens; “their words were poetry set to music.“ She was known for her gentle touch, applying her beautiful hands to make her own art: creating wheel-thrown pottery and her own glazes as a skilled self-employed potter from 1981 to 1986. She was especially proud of her daughter Gretchen, an accomplished porcelain and glass artist in the Tacoma area of Washington, and displayed her works on all her shelves. Always a lover of games, her most joyful moments in recent years were family card games over dinners that someone else cooked! She was beloved by each member of the family, and she signed all her cards to her nieces and nephews, “Your Ever Lovin’ Auntie Jean,” although she preferred everyone just to call her “Jean,” and so we did.

She is predeceased by her parents, Samuel and Juliet Eurich; stepmother, Bertha Eurich; nephew, Claude Morgan; and her best friend in life, sister, Juliet A. Eurich. She is survived by her sister Rita Metcalf of New Mexico; her brother Samuel D. Eurich (wife Virginia) of Marlborough; daughter Gretchen Mottet of Washington, as well as six nieces and nephews; 11 grandnieces and nephews; and ten great-grandnieces &andnephews; as well as significant others and extended family. She held her friends dear, and though most have passed, a few in Chester remain, and we thank you for your friendship. The family would also like to thank the nurses and aides at Gladeview for their compassionate care.

A celebration of Jean’s life will be held on her birthday at noon on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Chester Meeting House, 4 Liberty Street, Chester. A private burial of ashes will follow on Monday, Sept. 23, at Beaverdale Memorial Park in New Haven. Jean had many non-profits she supported, but the three most dear to her were Doctors Without Borders, doctorswithoutborders.org, CT Public Radio NPR/PBS, ctpublic.org, and the ACLU. So, in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her memory.