Jean Anne Hering

Our mom loved the carnation: that most delicate yet hearty of flowers. “A carnation will take you by surprise,” she would say. When she passed - after a years-long battle with frontotemporal dementia and with a clutch of pink carnations one arm’s length away - she did so like her favorite flower. On the one hand made wisp-thin and delicate by disease, she was astoundingly STRONG. Our mom outlasted all end-of-life predictions by days, getting in her goodbyes and entering heaven on a Sunday (just as she would have it). It’s hard to sum up a life with facts: Jean Anne Hering Daughter of C.V. and Virginia Mae “Jeannie” Eisenbarth Born: 1/7/1948 at Alameda Hospital in Alameda, California Passed: 7/21/2024 at her home in Lewisburg, Oregon Raised in a large, third-generation, Italian-American family. (Our mom was the quiet to their boisterous.) Attended Foothills Community College in Los Altos, CA. (She studied poetry. Her thumbed-through and underlined texts live in perpetuity on the bookshelf, offering clues to a rich inner world.) Married our father, Phil Evans, on September 14, 1968 in San Jose, CA. (He retired his motorcycle for her, though kept the leather jacket and cool 70s sideburns. He precedes her in death.) Raised three children in Coeur d’Alene, ID and then Corvallis, OR. (She was our rock. Her unwavering love, kindness, and dedication shapes who we are today). Worked for many years as a librarian (the classic smell of books will forever bring us back to her) and then as a billing specialist at CPI (here she found friends, chosen family, and - in an electrician named Jim - true love.) Attended St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Corvallis, OR. (Our mom not only attended, she engaged. She will be honored in Perpetual Adoration, as she did for others.) Married our stepdad, Jim Hering, on August 5th, 2002 at Peavy Arboretum in Lewisburg, OR. (Jim loved our mom with all the devotion, strength, and tenderness she deserved. He did so from the start and then as she grew ill, he did so ever-more resolutely. We love him for this.) Family was our mom’s top priority and she did good by her investment in us all. Her spirit of kindness and generosity is carried on by six children (the three of us plus Jim’s three daughters, with whom she shared great love), thirteen grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, two surviving siblings, one surviving great-aunt, an extended family of relations and friends, and - of course - her husband, our stepdad, the love of her life, Jim. She had a way of making each one of us feel the most important. While today the loss is fresh and difficult, the ways she’ll be remembered are forever and dear. Our mom will be remembered in every carnation; every rosary; every angel ornament; every neatly stitched quilt; every perfectly wrapped Christmas present; every card flowing in cursive; every warm hug and gentle back-pat; all things touched by her impossibly elegant hands. To honor our mom, please do the following: Attend her Celebration of Life Date: Friday, August 9th, 2024 Time: 10:30 am Rosary, 11:00 am Memorial Mass, 12:15 pm Reception Location: St. Mary’s Church, 501 NW 25th Street, Corvallis, Oregon Share in our thanks to Jefferson Lodge Memory Care and Serenity Hospice. We have loads of gratitude yet no adequate words for their compassion to people with life-limiting illness and their loved ones. Make any donations in her memory to the Association for Frontotemporal Dementia (AFTD) or the Alzheimer's Association of America (AFA). Take your shoes off when you go inside. Give your time and energy to others. (It’s always worth it.) Say I love you. Hug like you mean it. Call your mom. With love from her surviving family, Husband: Jim Hering Children: Eric Evans (wife Melissa; children Brock, Derek, Evan, Brandon, and Alexa); Michele Sperling (husband Jason; children Nyla and Silas); Kari Evans (children Charlie and Sawyer); Treasa Chacon (husband Bill; children James and Gina); Tina Hering (children Ty and Trey); Tiffany Hering-Aldred (husband Ron; daughter Makenzie Cleary, her husband Sam, her children Addilyn and Carter) Siblings: Bob Eisenbarth and Carol Furtado Great-Aunt: Esther Blakely Along with all those who passed before, and will come to follow.

Jean Anne Hering

January 7, 1948 - July 21, 2024