Jean Parker

Just Cremation

— Jean Bessire Parker, mother, gardener, gatherer, teacher and lover of people and the natural world, passed away on January 31, 2017. Margaret Jean Bessire was born on January 30, 1926 to Reverend William Harrison (Harry) Bessire and Agnes Borgerson Bessire in Powell, Wyoming. Jean, along with her siblings Bernice, Loreen, Mildred and Bernard, followed her father’s travels as a Presbyterian Minister around the west from Wyoming to Texas — travels which finally landed her in Montana where she lived in Lewistown and then in Missoula. Reverend Bessire’s visits to the Ninemile, Big Hole and Potomac valleys and to Seeley Lake allowed her to befriend many families throughout western Montana. The Bessires settled in the lower Rattlesnake where Jean started high school at Missoula County High School (now Hellgate). She met Charles DeWitt Parker and they were eventually married on September 2, 1949. Jean and Chuck borrowed a pack string and headed into the Bob Marshall for their honeymoon, where Jean graciously cooked for a number of folks that thought a trip in September up the North Fork, across to the Danaher, and out at Monture Creek, was a grand idea.  Jean worked as a one-room school house teacher near Fishtrap in the Big Hole during the war, and attended the University of Montana (then Montana State). Jean and Chuck went to the University of Iowa where she received an MS in Speech Pathology. They returned to Missoula in 1957 when Chuck founded the new Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology and Jean worked as a speech therapist in Montana schools, from the Bitterroot to Arlee. Jean was actively involved in the Missoula community, including rallying GASP (Gals Against Smog and Pollution) when Missoula’s air quality wasn’t what it is now. She was involved in many organizations including Cosmos and PEO.  Jean had four children; Doug, Lynn, Grant Dean and Margaret, all of whom she and Charles infused with a love of nature. She was an excellent cook and was the caretaker of the family sourdough starter for many decades. Her biscuits, hotcakes, venison roasts, as well as her mincemeat and huckleberry pies, were legendary. Jean loved to scour the Montana woods, particularly around Missoula and Swan Lake, for mushrooms, huckleberries, orchids and all sorts of other native flora. She appreciated beautiful rocks and was especially happy when she found a rock with a natural hole through it — her lucky stones. Jean loved sheep and their fleeces and meat, and she raised a small band at their place up Mormon Creek. She was pleased to donate a fleece to KUFM’s annual fundraising drive. Jean was an avid gardener and specialized in raising native ferns. She enjoyed hiking, canoeing and camping with her family and friends. In addition to loving wild places in Montana she was known to visit spots throughout the west and in Africa, the Amazon, England, Norway and Alaska. For Jean and Chuck’s 50th wedding anniversary, they convinced Smoke Elser to take their children, spouses and grandchildren back into the Bob to celebrate with them.  Jean had a strong affinity for native plants. When Professors Sherman Preece and Klaus Lackschewitz began planting native plants near the University of Montana’s Natural Sciences annex and greenhouse in 1967, Jean was an enthusiastic supporter. Following Lackschewitz’s retirement the native plant gardens were dormant until the late 1980s when Jean, together with her friends Jean Pfeiffer, Sheila Morrison, Louis Puckett, Chin Won Reinhardt, Peter Stickney, Kelly Chadwick and other volunteers from the Montana Native Plant Society, stepped up to save the native plant gardens. Jean took particular care of the forest shade garden. Sign up to get each day's obituaries sent to your email inbox  Jean was preceded in death by her parents, her siblings Bernice, Mildred and Bernard, her daughter Lynn and her husband Charles. She is survived by her children and their spouses, Doug Parker and Toneybeth Clark, Grant Parker and Molly Galusha, and Meg Parker, all in Missoula, by her grandchildren Matt Parker, Jackson Parker and Cooper Johnstad, and by many cousins, nieces and nephews.  In celebration of Jean’s life and nurturing spirit, please consider visiting the native plant gardens at the University of Montana, and contributing to or volunteering with, the Montana Native Plant Society. If you wish to make a contribution, please mail to Montana Native Plant Society — Gardens, PO Box 8783, Missoula, MT 59807, and designate “Gardens” on the gift.  A private celebration of Jean’s life will be scheduled. Contact family members for information.

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Jean Parker Obituary | Just Cremation