Jeanne Robinette, 83, passed away on Jan. 2, 2015 from complications of dementia.

Jeanne was born in East Orange New Jersey on Oct. 9, 1931 to James and Dorothy (Flanders) Ellis. She was raised in the family home at 662 River Road in Chatham Township, N.J., and graduated from Chatham High School in 1949. Jeanne earned her way through Maryville College, Maryville Tennessee by working (summers) as a waitress at the Hotel Suburban in Summit, N.J. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Maryville College in 1953. Jeanne met Tasker K. Robinette in college and they were married in New Providence, N.J, on Aug. 24, 1952, before returning to college to complete their senior year.

After college, the Robinettes moved to St. Louis, Missouri where Jeanne worked for the Nooter Corporation as a secretary and Tasker attended graduate school at Washington University. They then moved to Tinton Falls, N.J. where Jeanne worked for Bendix Aviation while Tasker did his internship at Monmouth Memorial Hospital in Long Branch, N.J. In the summer of 1955, the Robinettes moved to Montgomery, Alabama, where newly commissioned 2^nd Lt. Tasker attended the U.S.A.F. School of Aviation Medicine. Daughter Karen was born there, on Nov. 29, 1955.

Son Kenneth was born April 30, 1957 in Spokane, where Tasker was then serving as an administrator of the Air Force Hospital at Fairchild Air Force Base.

After Tasker’s obligatory military service, the Robinettes moved to Park Forest, Illinois. Jeanne’s daughter Barbara was born in Park Forest on Sept. 11, 1960. From 1955 until the family first moved to Anacortes (in 1961) Jeanne was fully occupied as a wife and mother. In 1962, however, she also began to take on additional challenges. She was a founding member of the Skagit-Island County Unitarian Fellowship, the Anacortes Arts & Crafts festival (active from 1961 through 1967) and Anacortes Community Theatre. In 1964, she played the role of Sheila in an ACT performance of “The Reluctant Debutante” and worked on costumes and props in other productions.

When the Robinettes moved to Edmonds, Washington in 1967, Jeanne became an active leader in the Edmonds Unitarian Church. In 1970, she earned a second Bachelors Degree (in Anthropology) from the University of Washington.

After the Robinettes moved on to Lake Oswego, Oregon, she earned a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from Portland State University, which she applied in many ways. She wrote and, in 1984, published a book on the promise of citizen action: “Cheaper Gov’t Can Still Get The Job Done”. During her 19 years in Lake Oswego she served her community in every way she could. She chaired a city-wide land use inventory, and served on the Board of the League of Woman Voters. She also served as a Lake Oswego Planning Commissioner, as a member of the Portland Area Boundary Commission, and as a consultant for the Oregon State Department of Economic Development. Jeanne founded and managed the activist organization “Oregonians for Cost Effective Government,” which evolved into Cascade Policy Institute. She also designed, planned and conducted the first two national conferences on government service privatization.

Jeanne and Tasker returned to Anacortes in 1989, where Jeanne spent the first three years after their return helping her husband build their new home on 17^th Street and working, part time, as a land use planning consultant. In 1992 she was elected to the Anacortes City Council and served as a council member until her second term expired in 2001. In 2002 she joined the noon Kiwanis Club and was an active member until poor health caused her resignation in 2013. Jeanne was also a long-time member and Treasurer of the Anacortes Museum Foundation, the West Skagit County Republican Women’s Club, the Skagit County Marine Resources Committee, the Anacortes Library Foundation, the Sea Island Chorus and the Anacortes Harmonaires women’s barber shop singing group. She was honored by Soroptimist International of Anacortes in 2002 as an Anacortes “Woman of Distinction”, and in 2012 as Grand Marshall of the 4^th of July parade. In later years she stood every Sunday, on the corner of 12^th and Commercial Ave., with a group of proud Americans, waving her flag and looking east to honor her beloved country.

Jeanne leaves behind her beloved husband of 63 years and her three children: Karen, of Wasilla, Alaska; Kenneth, of Bellingham and Barbara, of Rochester, N.Y. She is also survived by her younger sister Marjorie Conlan of Chatham, New Jersey and her four grandchildren: Leigh James and Joy Elizabeth Robinette, and Ryan Oliver and Heather Morgan O’Donnell.

Arrangements are in the care of Smart Cremation LLC. A casual, open house celebration of Jeanne’s life will be held when all family members can attend. Memorial donations should be sent to The Kiwanis Club of Anacortes, Inc., or the charity of your choice.