Jeanne (Cunningham) Wolverton April 27, 1940 - April 25, 2024
Jeanne Wolverton, 83, died of complications due to Alzheimer’s Disease in Oxnard, California on April 25, 2024. Jeanne Elizabeth Cunningham was born on April 27, 1940 in San Antonio, Texas to John William and Elizabeth Loretta (Wolf) Cunningham, the first of their five children. She graduated from Thomas Edison High School in San Antonio in 1958. After just one semester at the University of Texas in Austin, she traded college life for boot camp in the United States Marine Corps.
Jeanne met her future husband, a sailor named Van Wolverton, in electronics school at Naval Aviation Technical Training Center Memphis in Millington, Tennessee. After they graduated from flight simulator operator training in December 1959, she was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, near Santa Ana, California, while Van was stationed at Barbers Point Naval Air Station near Honolulu, Hawaii. They were married March 17, 1961 in the Roman Catholic chapel at NAS Barbers Point.
Jeanne and Van moved from Hawaii to Louisiana where their first child, Edward William III (Bill) was born. Van’s college and careers took them to Colorado, where daughter Katherine (Kay) was born, then Idaho where son Andrew was born. After a brief stint in Illinois they returned to Colorado where Jeanne combined motherhood and volunteer work while Van established his career at IBM. A work transfer took the family to Scotts Valley, California in 1973 where Jeanne dedicated herself to her family and various volunteer pursuits. A few years later she turned her efforts to college, graduating from University of California, Santa Cruz with a BA in Community Studies.
Jeanne and Van moved to Alberton, Montana where they lived for over 25 years. There Jeanne was very active in volunteer organizations such as the American Red Cross (local chapter chair and Montana State Chair), Montana Community Foundation (member of state board of directors), and Head Start (chair of local board of directors). She was employed for several years as Western Director of the New York City-based Steele-Reese Foundation, which makes grants to rural and Native-led organizations in Idaho and Montana and Appalachian Kentucky.
Jeanne’s brother Alan and sister Susan preceded her in death. She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Van; son Bill of Aptos, California and his sons Christopher and Drew; daughter Kay of Camarillo, California, her husband Henry, and their sons Jack, Toshiro and Calvin; son Andrew of San José, California; and brothers Glenn and Steve and their spouses Rhonda and Connie in Texas.
No services are planned. Her family expresses their gratitude to Assisted Home Health and Hospice of Ventura and the caring staff of Regency Palms Senior Living in Oxnard.