As a young homemaker, Jean Pierce was a talented seamstress whose skill went beyond making clothes for herself and her family.

It was a skill she had learned from her mother and one that allowed her to take on challenging projects, such as making slipcovers for her furniture and a creating a flag for one of her son’s Boy Scout patrol.

“It was probably the fanciest flag we’d ever seen,” her son Scott said. “She loved to do those kinds of things. Even up until recently, she would say ‘You know, I can still thread a needle.’ And she was always proud of that.”

Former Kenoshan Jean A. Pierce, 96, of Greencastle, Ind., died June 22, 2009, leaving three sons, David, Ron and Scott, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Born in Chicago, Jean met the love of her, Earl V. Pierce, at DePaul College in Greencastle. The two graduated about 1938 and married soon after.

Earl was raised in Kenosha, but Jean became familiar with the town when working for the Chicago Girl Scout Council as a district executive and would ride the North Shore train here to help start Girl Scout troops here.

Scouting was an endeavor she became involved with as a child, and she continued her connection into adulthood.

As a teen she attained the rank of Golden Eaglet, the highest honor a Girl Scout could receive at that time. The Golden Eaglet was comparable to Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts, Scott said.

“She was involved from a very young age. I think the whole idea of volunteering as a way to give back to her community and her church came from her Scouting experience,” Scott said.

Networking with other girls and women to share strength and wisdom became a lifelong trait for Jean.

She served as the president of Alpha Chi Omega sorority at DePaul in her college years and remained a strong supporter of the sorority as an adult. She was one of the oldest remaining Alpha Chi members in the area, and young women often contacted for oral history remembrances.

Jean served as coordinator for the Kenosha Memorial Hospital Candy Stripers program in the 1950s and ’60s and was a member of the Kenosha Woman’s Club.

She also was a member of the Kenosha Hospital Auxiliary and served as a Sunday school teacher at First Congregational Church.

Jean and Earl came to Kenosha in 1940 when Earl took a job at the American Brass Co. The family moved six years later to Glenview, Ill. when Earl was transferred to Chicago, but the family came back to Kenosha from 1957 to 1969.

They moved again to Waterbury, Conn., when Earl was transferred to the American Brass plant there.

Earl retired in the late 1980s, and the couple moved to Greencastle where they still had many friends from their college days. He died there in 1993.

Jean taught her boys skills in self-sufficiency.

“We certainly looked to her for our support and strength. I know that I wasn’t the greatest student in high school and even in the first couple years of college, but she was always there to support us whenever we needed it,” Scott said.

“She was just a very, very kind, a very loving mom — the kind that every kid would hope to have.”