Jeanette B. Welch passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Sunday, December 12, 2021.

The daughter of Ollie Beard and Herman Bodkin, Jeanette was born in a farmhouse on Nov. 9, 1927, in Gibson County, Tennessee. She graduated from Peabody High School, Trenton, TN in 1945 and Union University, Jackson, TN in 1949. On Nov. 12, 1950, she married the recently hired professor on campus, Lin Welch, with their shared boss, the University president, serving as best man.

Jeanette put herself through college working as secretary to the president; she helped put her husband through his Ph.D at the University of Missouri at Columbia by working as secretary to the dean of students, Stephens College. They moved to Warrensburg in 1956 when Lin was employed as a Professor at Central MO. State Teachers College (UCM). As the college continued to grow, Lin was appointed Chairman of the new Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology. Alums may recall the annual Christmas Open House the Welches hosted for his majors, departmental staff, and their spouses. Jeanette made many delicious cookies, breads, and candy. On many other occasions, members of the department and their spouses, as well as visiting professors and workshop attendees, were guests for brunch or dinner at the Welches.

Jeanette's nimble fingers helped finance many family vacations to the East and West coasts and other places by typing dissertations on an old manual typewriter for 35 cents a page. A teaching assistantship at the University of Missouri enabled her to earn a Ph.D. in Political Science there in 1983. She taught political science for several years at State Fair Community College, Whiteman AFB; Central Missouri State University; and Northwest Missouri State University. She was active in two AAUW study groups, the Johnson County Historical Society, West Central Citizens for Choice, the Warrensburg Writers' Circle, and the Democratic party, as well as a supporter of Trails Regional Library. She is well known for her many published Letters to the Editor of the Kansas City Star and the Warrensburg Daily Star Journal. One of her letters was published in The New Yorker magazine. After Lin retired, they traveled extensively in Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Hawaii, as well as enjoying several cruises.

Jeanette wrote and published a book of memoirs, Not Afraid of Hard Work , which provided a vivid account of her experiences as one of three kids with a widowed mother in the Great Depression in the South.

She was preceded in death by her father in 1934; her mother in 1994; her brother George in 1983; and her spouse, Lin Welch, in 2017.

She is survived by a son, Richard Welch of Warrensburg; two daughters, Nancy (Welch) Miller of Kansas City, and her partner, James Mobley; Deborah (Welch) Larson of Los Angeles; a son-in-law, David Larson; a grandson, Ethan Larson, Boston; and a sister, Wanda Jeter, of Jackson, Tennessee, as well as several nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers the family suggests contributions to the Lin Welch Graduate Scholarship Fund, University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg, or to the First Christian Church, Warrensburg, Mo. The family would like to extend a special thanks to Jeanette's long-time caregivers, Noel Hunt and Brenda Demattei

A Celebration of Life Service will be held at a later date.