As some of you know, my mother died a few days ago, after several years of illness. Although we are sad, she knew that it was her time. Jean was a remarkable person who lived a full life. I am now with my father helping to settle affairs and celebrate Jean’s life. Below is a version of Jean’s obituary.
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Jean Mieko Conklin, 83, of Hamden, passed away peacefully on July 22, 2010 with her husband of 56 years, Harold C. Conklin, at her side. She was born in Sharon, PA on August 26, 1926 to the late Masanobu and Kikue Hasegawa Morisuye. Besides her husband, Jean leaves her sons, Bruce Conklin and his wife Bonnie Preston, and their children Dylan and Claire Conklin of San Francisco, CA and Mark Conklin and his wife Noelle Strong and their daughter Emma Strong-Conklin of Park City, UT.
Jean is a graduate of Oberlin College (1948) and received her master’s in biology from Brown University (1950). She accompanied her husband on three, year-long anthropological field trips to the Philippines first with the Hanunóo (1957-1958), then with the Ifugao (1962-1963 and 1968-1969). Most of her life she lived in New Haven before recently moving to the Whitney Center in Hamden CT. Early in her career, Jean was a research assistant at Yale Medical School. Other titles she has held at Yale University included executive assistant to the Director of Athletics, to the Director of Human Resources and to the Yale General Counsel. Jean was an indefatigable record keeper, an avid letter writer, and spent countless hours working on many aspects of anthropological documentation. In 2002 she authored “An Ifugao Notebook” that has delighted many readers with a series of short stories told from perspective of each member of the Conklin family during the 1968-1969 field trip. Many lives have been touched in special ways because of Jean and her love of helping other people.
1 comment:
I was fortunate to be Jean and Hal's neighbor in the mid-80s. I treasure our dinner at their home and introducing us to the best pizza place in the area -- bacon! Jean sent us notes that that the tulips that my husband, Eric Margolis, planted during our time at Yale. Years later, she sent me a copy of her book, which I loved and appreciated her domestic insight into fieldwork -- the book really needs to be distributed widely. I hope she enjoyed the lemons, grapefruit and oranges I sent her that year I received the book. They were from our orchard. I feel that I am a better person having known Jean and sharing a few moments of her life. My heart goes out to Hal and her children.
Mary Romero
Arizona State University
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