Jean Legried was one of those people you admired. I thought about her last week when I realized I hadn’t received her usual Christmas letter. Now I know why, Jean passed away on January 1st and her health had been declining.
I first met her back in the early 1980s. She taught me that a disability or other challenge need not stop a person from living, helping others, or from becoming a knowledgeable professional genealogist who kept up with standards and education.
Jean was a well-known genealogist is the Norwegian research community, in Albert Lea and Freeborn County as well as in Minnesota in general. She served on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Genealogical Society with me. She taught us about the importance of handicapped accessibility at our meetings (and library) and that such access did not mean the dirty freight elevator! She was 200% correct. People who have been active on the discussion list of the Association of Professional Genealogists and other online lists may remember her posts of past years. Jean was also an associate of the Board for Certification of Genealogists for many years.
Her late husband Peder was a fantastic cook and I remember the chicken salad he made for a meeting of a group of Minnesota professional genealogists many years ago. Jean bragged about her son, daughter-in-law and especially about the grandkids. I met her mother a couple times and she was so nice.
Genealogy has lost a special person.
Thank you to Sandy Thalmann for alerting me to Jean’s obituary http://www.bayviewfuneral.com/obits/obituary.php?id=140931 I love the picture her family chose for the obituary.
© 2012 – 2014, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.
I am shocked and saddened to hear this. I have roots in Albert Lea and the surrounding area, and I’ve long been an admirer of her work there. She was THE genealogists for Freeborn County Norwegians.