Jeanne Kreutz

JEANNE CHARLOTTE KREUTZA resident of Albuquerque died Thursday, August 23, 2012. She is survived by her son, Alan; and daughter, Barbara and her husband Don; grandchildren; Kimberly, Michael and his wife Kimberly, Tanya, Carrie and her husband Richard; and great-granddaughter, Anabella. Mrs. Kreutz was preceded in death by her husband, Orlo Romaine Kreutz. Jeanne was raised during the Depression in Minneapolis, MN. In childhood she learned gratitude for whatever she had and began her long life of helping and caring for others. Jeanne earned enough to begin her nursing education at the Univ. of Minnesota. The government stepped in to assist for the war effort. Cadets took 24 hours of classes each semester, worked four hours a day at the hospital, and studied well into the night. Jeanne excelled in all her work. She met her future husband, Orlo, while working at Bushnell, an amputee hospital in Brigham City, Utah. After the war she was an RN at the Minneapolis Veterans Hospital. She married in 1947 and moved to Orlo’s rural hometown Harvard, Nebraska. She continued her work as a licensed RN, often the first line of defense for serious injury or illness in a county with no doctors. She preformed the functions of a present day EMT. She also provided home health care, physical therapy, TB tests, and administered injections and vaccinations for individuals or entire counties during epidemics. She was the county’s school nurse and formed a nurses’ organization so local nurses could work together. The last 10 years of her career she worked in a medical clinic in Aurora, NE. Jeanne was widowed in 1979, but remained in Harvard to care for husband’s relatives until the last died at age 101. She then moved to be with her daughter in l999. Jeanne was an exceptional parent and a modest unassuming woman who never recognized the value of her contributions. She was admired and respected for her skill, honesty, wit and intelligence. But to be in her presence was to feel the Holy Spirit residing in a gentle person of true goodness. She lived only unconditional love, compassion and understanding. Always grateful and asking for nothing, she was a person totally at peace with her life and her relationship with God. We will miss her gentle touch. Services will be held on Monday, September 3, 2012, 10:00 a.m. at French - Wyoming Chapel. Interment will take place at a later date in Harvard, NE. Should friends desire, memorial contributions may be made to Children’s Hospital of New Mexico, 700 Lomas Blvd N.E. Suite 100, Albuquerque, 87102.

Jeanne Kreutz

February 13, 1921 - August 23, 2012