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August 19, 2012

Jean G. MacLachlan

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TRAVERSE CITY — Jean Gross MacLachlan, 93, born Dec. 13, 1919, in Elkins, W.Va., died Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012, in Traverse City.

Although she lived most of her life in Michigan, Jean remained ever-attached to her childhood home of Elkins, W.Va., where she liked to ski down the hill on barrel staves and was valedictorian of her high school class.

She attended local Davis and Elkins College before transferring to Duke University, where she was an outstanding scholastic achiever and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She also participated in many social activities, including the school choir, for her three years at Duke. Jean joined the sorority Delta Delta Delta at Duke and kept in contact with Tridelt sisters for all of her life.

It was at Duke that she met her husband, William M. "Bill" MacLachlan, a civil engineer. They married in November 1942.

Their early married life was spent in Benton, Ky., where Bill worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority before joining the U.S. Navy. As a Seabee, he served on Guam, returning in 1946. After the war, Bill took a job with the general contractor Barton-Malow Co. in his native Detroit.

Jean quickly adapted to a mountainless environment and also to her husband's penchant for Irish Setters, a lifelong passion. Over the years she "mothered" an unbroken series of "The Irish," which included helping produce eight puppies in the basement. Her home was peppered with Irish Setter regalia and pictures of her favorite dogs.

She also was an enthusiastic correspondent — especially with her nieces and nephews — and always remembered everyone's birthday.

Another mainstay of her adult life was curling. At the Detroit Curling Club she and Bill enjoyed the old Scottish game, won a few "bonspiels" and made lifelong friends.

They also were lifelong members of the Presbyterian Church, most recently of Northbrook Presbyterian Church in Beverly Hills, the Detroit suburb to which they had moved in 1959.

Jean loved the trips the couple took in their later years to Europe or beautiful places in North America. They were a welcome break from the duties of a homemaker.

Meticulous and a perfectionist, Jean was known to her friends and acquaintances, above all else, for her keen sense of humor.

In 2005, she and Bill moved to Fox Run Village in Novi, where they made many new friends. They lived there together until Bill died in 2010. Jean moved in 2011 to The Village at Bay Ridge in Traverse City.

She is survived by her children, William M. MacLachlan III, of Glen Arbor, and Ann Downing MacLachlan-Zaleski, of Jouy-en-Josas, France; as well as by her nieces and nephews, Catherine Gross Hendren, of Winston-Salem, N.C., Robert D. Gross, of Lexington, N.C., Jill Gross Soderberg, of Lake Forest, Ill., and William T. Gross, of High Point, N.C.

Jean was preceded in death by her parents, Clifford A. Gross and Winifred Talbot; her husband of 68 years, William Malcolm MacLachlan Jr.; and by her brother, Robert A. Gross, of Colfax, N.C.

Jean is interred in Northbrook Presbyterian Church, Beverly Hills, Mich. The Rev. Marjorie Wilhelmi, Pastor, officiated. A memorial service will be held on Monday, Oct. 15, 2012, at 2 p.m., at the Chapel at Old Settlers Park, just north of Burdickville, on the shore of Big Glen Lake. Refreshments will be served after the memorial service.

Memorial contributions may be directed to Duke University, Northbrook Presbyterian Church or the Humane Society of Michigan.

Arrangements are with the Martinson Funeral Home of Suttons Bay.

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