Jean Coumans Matthews Kilbreth

TURNER – Jean Coumans Matthews Kilbreth, of Turner, passed away Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, under a Full Snow Moon, after a brief struggle with illness, at the Androscoggin Hospice House in Auburn.Jean was born to Doris Allen Leavitt Matthews and Walter Dawson Matthews on August 14, 1935. She looked up to two big brothers, Clayton Leavitt Matthews and Carl Edward Matthews and her big sister Barbara Elaine Matthews Plummer.After graduating from Leavitt Institute and Westbrook Junior-Senior College, Jean married Donald Edward “Tink” Kilbreth on Dec. 29, 1956 at the Turner Center Universalist Church, during a blizzard. She spent two years with her husband at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where she worked at the San Antonio Public Library and thumbed her nose at segregation practices.Her first daughter, Dawne Marie Kilbreth-Havener entered their family story on August 4, 1959, then her second, Deanna Marie Kilbreth on August 11, 1968 and her third, Darcy Marie Kilbreth James on Feb. 17, 1970: Eenie, Meenie, Miney . . . and no Mo.Jean loved spending time with her family and her vast collection of friends, founding the “Sip and Sew” group (a first iteration, subsequently re-branded) on a Tuesday in 1989. Passions included but were not limited to babies, children, fairness, sound defensive driving skills, Pleasant Pond, birthday cakes, frogs, Sam’s Italian sandwiches and the shock value of humor. It has been said that it’s impossible to think of Jean without smiling.She missed those who departed before her dearly, including those in her family, grandparents Sarah and John Matthews; grandparents Harry and Flora Leavitt; parents; parents-in-law Mary Etta Moore Kilbreth and Alfred Lee Kilbreth; Aunt Ruth; brothers and sister; sisters-in-law Beverly Jones Matthews and Beverly Kilbreth Therrien and Dina Lossi Kilbreth; brother-in-law Laurier “Dump” Kilbreth and nephews Christopher Matthews and Andrew Kilbreth. Those extended family members left missing her dearly are brother-in-law Stanley “Pup” Kilbreth; de facto sister Joanne Kruger; sister-in-law Kitty Matthews; brother-in-law Robert Plummer; sons-in-law Richard Havener, Jonathan Curtis andWilliam James; honorary daughter Nadège Burnier Oliviero; grandchildren (Abby, Betsy, Max, Molly, Bess, Cora, Dawson, Jasper and Ruth) and their spouses and partners (D.J., Andrew, Sarah and Fritz); great-grandchildren (Marlowe, Hazel, Axel and Winnie); nieces, grandnieces, great-grandnieces, nephews, grandnephews and great-grandnephews.Please smile at your family and your neighbors as much as you can, be generous of heart – and take good care of each other (also, try not to dilly-dally).Funeral services to be held at noon on Feb. 22, 2020 at Turner Universalist Church, 450 Turner Center Rd., Turner. Refreshments immediately following downstairs in theVestry.In lieu of sending flowers, please consider donating funds, homemade quilts, blankets, pillowcases or perhaps a little of your time to the beautiful Androscoggin Hospice House 236 Stetson Rd. Auburn, ME 04210 (207) 333-6300


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