Haxtun's Jeane Brundige continues a life well lived at 100 plus

One hundred years spans a lifetime and a quarter for most people, but for Jeane (Beckman) Brundige that 100 years represents one lifetime well lived. That message came through the vast number of greetings written in her 100th Birthday gift book laid out at a party held in the dining room in the Haxtun Health Extended Care Unit to celebrate Jeane's 100th birthday on Jan. 17, 2022.

One of those greetings indicates the affection Jeane's daughter-in-law Jody feels for her. "A life lived to its fullest. Well done my soul mate," Jody wrote.

In a Feb. 9, 1994 article published by The Haxtun Herald, Jeane indicates that the affection flows both ways. "Glenn and I thought the world of Jody, Jim's wife," Jeane told the reporter. Jody is also the mother of Jeane and Glenn's only granddaughter, Jamie, whom Glenn held a special bond with; a bond Jeane continues to honor.

Jeane moved into the ECU following a fall at the home she shared with her husband Glenn until his death on Oct. 23, 1994. She continued to live at home until that fall splintered her anklebone, making it impossible for her to walk and putting her in a wheelchair. She chuckles as she tells me that she has learned to get around in the wheelchair including how to go to the bathroom. At first she hoped to return home once the injury healed, but after learning that the bone was splintered, she has come to accept the ECU as her home.

"It's a gift," said Jody. "We were really blessed when she told us she wouldn't be able to go home. The last thing you want is for someone to be where they don't want to be, but it's good to know that she has accepted her situation and we don't have to worry about her."

Jeane said the only thing that bothers her about living in the ECU is the schedule. When she lived at home, she stayed up late at night to watch sports. Now ECU rules require her to go to bed early.

Jeane especially loves watching "March Madness" during basketball season and everyone knows when not to call her, said Jody. "We got in trouble more than once for calling her in the middle of a game. Once Jim called her and she said 'what are you calling me for?' He hung up and turned around and said 'I just got yelled at by my mother.'" However, Jim also remembers one time during March Madness when Jeane was out in her yard pulling weeds. He asks her why she was outside pulling weeds instead of in the house watching the game. "It's half time," she politely told him.

While Jeane isn't able to stay up late now, she does watch sports all day. "She asks Jim to tell her who's playing and what time, and she knows who the coaches are." Jody added that the amazing thing was that Jeane also went to the sports games with them until she moved into the ECU.

Dorothy "Jeane" (Beckman) Brundige was born on Jan. 17, 1922 in the home of her parents Theodore "Ted" and Myrtle "Liddie" (Johnson) Beckman on a farm located three and one-half miles southeast of Haxtun. Seven years later, in 1929, the stock market crashed, setting off the "worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world," according to Google. The Great Depression lasted over 10 years, but Jeane said it was probably much harder on her parents than it was on her and her friends. "We didn't really notice that we were poor because everyone was in the same boat," said Jeane. "No one had money so it was the same for everyone."

Jeane attended all eight years of elementary school at Philorado, a one-room schoolhouse located on the southeast corner of her family's farm. She noted in a book titled "Grandmother Remembers," a written Heirloom she wrote for her granddaughter Jamie, that she "walked to school everyday." On another page of "Grandmother Remembers," Jeane writes that she was expected to do her choses, but that her parents were not particularly strict. "I was expected to use good judgment about my actions." She continued on yet another page that her father taught her that thinking for herself was of value and that she should learn from her mistakes. "Well, did you learn anything?" he would ask, said Jeane.

Following grade school, Jeane attended Haxtun High School where she graduated in 1939. In an article published on June 1, 1994 in The Haxtun Herald commemorating the 55th reunion of the Class, Jeane told the reporter that graduating from Haxtun gave her many friendships and a feeling of support by the school, community and church.

Jeane's only sibling, a brother named William "Bill" Beckman, died in May of 1945 during World War II. Bill was serving as a tail gunner on the Empire Express an American airplane that was targeting a Kamakaze air base in Japan. Jim said authorities at first thought the Japanese airplane that crashed into the Empire was being piloted by a Kamikaze pilot but further investigation found that the pilot simply miscalculated a turn and struck the wing of the American airplane. All but three of the 11-man crew died in the crash. The Japanese captured the three survivors and held them in a Hiroshima, Japan prisoner of war camp until July 3, when they were executed. Three days later, on Aug. 6, 1945, the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan.

Later, a Memorial honoring the Empire's crew was erected on the side of the mountain where the airplane went down. A family friend, Mirk Bird, later wrote a book entitled, "The Crew of the Empire Express," to tell the story of the crash and the men who died. A YouTube video that contains photos of the members of the crew is also available online. A second edition of the book is available at saulkcountyhistory.org.

Bill was missing for a year before authorities notified the family that he died when the plane went down. Jeane said her mother remained sad for the rest of her life after Bill's death. Jeane also took Bill's death hard. She remembers him as handsome and athletic, and one of her fondest memories was of the year Bill took her to prom because she didn't have a date.

Following her high school graduation, Jeane went to business school in Denver. Two of her best friends, Georgibelle Smith and Alberta Kassling, also moved to Denver. These two friends invited her to a dinner at the home of Glenn Brundige, the man she would eventually marry. It was March and Glenn had just turned 30. Jeane was just 19. Although the two grew up in Phillips County, Glenn south of Paoli and Jeane southeast of Haxtun, they had not met before.

Glenn and Jeane both worked at Gates Rubber Company and a short time after that dinner, Jeane found a note attached to her timecard explaining that Glenn was making the trip to Haxtun and asking her if she would like to ride along. Jeane said yes, and the two became engaged the following July 4th. They married on Sept. 7, 1941.

Jeane loves to tell the story about how she met Georgibelle the first time while each sat on the opposite ends of a teeter-totter. Jeane said her rear end got tired so she just got up off of the teeter-totter and walked off. She said the two became life-long friends despite that and she kept in touch with Georgibelle for many years. Although she eventually lost contact, she believes Georgibelle, who became a conservative Christian, lived for a time in Colorado Springs. The football field at Day Spring Christian High School is named the Georgibelle (Smith) Brazelton Football Field because of the support Georgibelle gave the school's sports program.

Jeane also kept in touch with Alberta and that friendship lasted until Alberta passed away about three years ago. Jeane explained that Alberta never married, but became an excellent teacher. She taught all over, including on an Indian Reservation. She taught math at the end of her teaching career.

In April of 1942, seven months after Jeane and Glenn married, Glenn was drafted into the United States Army where he worked as a mechanic on tanks. Amazingly, Jeane was able to follow Glenn from place to place, including California, Indiana, Arizona and Washington State, once he completed basic training and until he went overseas. Glenn went first to England and later to France where he landed on D Day, June 6, 1944. In February 1945, he went to Germany where he fought at the Battle of The Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, a major German offensive campaign. While Glenn served overseas, he and Jeane wrote letters to each other every day.

At a reunion of his fellow soldiers after Glenn returned home from the Army, Jeane said the first thing the men attending asked him was if he still had all of those letters. She said he was teased about the letters while he was serving and they continued to tease him at the reunion.

While Glenn served overseas, Jeane returned to Denver where she worked for a time for an arms plant and later for the Selective Service. In February of 1945, Jeane received word that Glenn had been injured when the tank he and another soldier tried to recover was struck by gunfire. The German bullet went clear through the tank. Although Jim said the men being out of the tank probably saved their lives, both were injured and had to hold each other up as they walked to get help. Glenn's injury consisted of shrapnel in his foot and he was hospitalized. Glenn was released from the Army with a medical discharge in August of 1945. He came home and he and Jeane started a family.

As was the rule of the day, Jeane quit working to stay home to raise her family. After returning to Phillips County, they farmed for a time, first near Holyoke and later near Haxtun. Glenn and Jeane raised three children: Linda Jeane (Brundige) Battello, born Oct. 23, 1946; William "Bill" Brundige, born Nov. 13, 1948; and James "Jim" Brundige, born Sept. 4, 1954.

Linda, a widow with one stepson, Tony Battello, is now a Methodist minister and is trained as a mental health worker. She lives in Fort Collins and comes to Haxtun to see her mother every other weekend.

Bill became a professional football player for the Washington Redskins, now the Washington Commanders. Once he retired from football, he remained in Virginia where he worked as the general manager for a Ford, Mazda and Subaru dealership. Bill passed away on Dec. 29, 2018 at the age of 70.

Jim and Jody live in Haxtun where Jim worked in finance. He worked as administer for the Haxtun Hospital District, now Haxtun Health, from 1995 to 2000. He is now retired.

In 1948, Glenn took a job with the United States Postal Service as a substitute mail carrier, but with the help of friends he eventually received his own route and went full-time in 1959. Jeane said things were easier financially once Glenn went to work for the Postal Service. They quit farming in 1963 and moved into Haxtun. Glenn retired from the Post Office in 1973.

Jeane returned to work once Jim started high school. She worked as secretary and as Sunday School Superintendent for the Haxtun United Methodist Church for eight years and then went to work as an enumerator (data gatherer) for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). The job entailed helping farmers fill out forms to report data to the Department of Agriculture. She said the farmers were not always happy to see her. Some may have resented that she was a woman, but mostly they did not like having her report information that they considered "their business."

After Glenn retired from the Post Office, the pair "bummed around" for a time, traveling to Washington State, Washington, D.C. California and Virginia. They also traveled to watch Bill play professional football, which got interesting at times, said Jody. "If they couldn't get the game on the television here, they would drive to Nebraska and rent a motel room so they could watch the game on a little black and white television. You have had an amazing life," Jody said, turning to look at Jeane.

They also traveled to watch Jim play college basketball when he played for Trinidad State Junior College, and they traveled to Washington State to see Linda who was working on her master's degree in phycology. After working for a time in the mental health field, Linda returned to school to earn her degree in theology.

Jeane says Linda may have followed in her footsteps when she became a minister. "I wanted to be a minister when I was five years old," said Jeane with a chuckle and a gleam in her eye. She may not, however, be that far off regarding Linda's following a family tradition. In "Grandmother Remembers," Jeane lists her grandfather as "Reverend William Beckman" and notes that he was a Lutheran Minister. Her great-grandfather, William's father, was also a minister.

Glenn and Jeane spent two winters, five months each, in Arizona before Glenn's health forced them to quit traveling. At the time of Glenn's death, the two had been married for 53 years.

That they made it 53 years may have come as a surprise to many who knew the young couple when they met in 1941. Glenn's family raised him as a staunch Republican; Jeane's family raised her as a staunch Democrat. In the 1994 story in the Herald, Jeane said she felt their marriage worked because they were both free spirits. "I always wanted to be Jeane Brundige and he let me be Jeane Brundige." Glenn told the reporter in that article, "You can't expect two people to be the same."

After Glenn died, with encouragement from friend Marilyn Garretson, Jeane started playing Bridge with a group of local women. Later the Bridge group also included long-time friend Ann Harms, who often spends time visiting Jeane at the ECU. The two, both widowed, knew each other as newly-married women when they both belonged to the same extension club. The two had a lot of fun playing Bridge even though they rarely won, said Ann. She explained that they received low score one year and high score one year. "Low is not something you wish for," she said, but added that they were proud of their high-score year. Jeane had to stop playing bridge when it became too difficult for her to hold the cards.

One hundred years has brought many changes to Jeane's world, including television, automatic washing machines, small pox and polio vaccines and a man who walked on the moon.

In "Grandmother Remembers" Jeane wrote that women have more freedom now, but they also have a more hectic life. She thinks having a woman president would be OK if the right woman is elected, but believes it is more important to just elect the best person.

Some of her favorite things are a music box dancer, the movie Sabrina, actor Harrison Ford and actresses Roma Downey and Angela Lansbury. Her favorite holiday is Christmas, her favorite flower the Gardenia, her favorite color green and her favorite saying, "Been there, done that." I would bet she has.

About "The Future" in "Grandmother Remembers," Jeane tells Jamie that she expects that she will be happy, but that life can get dull without some problems. She hopes that we won't have another big war and that the Christian Right will not turn Americans into "Puritans." She hopes Jamie and her family experience good health and that she has as much fun with her grandchildren as Jeane has had with her. Finally, she writes that she hopes Jamie continues to make others feel that they are worth knowing.

Jeane's only granddaughter Jamie Marie (Brundige) Tori was born on Aug. 4, 1976. "She was very close to her grandfather," said Jeane. "She always said that she wanted a man just like her grandfather when she married. That was her goal from the time she was a teenager." Jeane feels Jamie got close when she married her husband husband Craig Tori on Sept. 23, 2000.

Jamie thought so much of her grandfather that she braved her first airplane ride so she could follow him and Jeane to Arizona when she was about 12 years old. She did end up having a great time, said Jeane. She met a girl on the airplane and the two spent the trip practicing sign language. Jamie wanted to graduate before her grandfather died and she managed to do that, said Jeane. She and Craig have two children, Bella, born Dec. 26, 2002, and Jake, born Jan. 20, 2005. Jake's birthday is three days after Jeane's. Bella sang Amazing Grace at Jeane's 100th Birthday party, accompanied on the guitar by her father. Jake recited a poem.

In her note to her greet-grandmother, Bella wrote: "Happy born day, Nan! Thank you for being the amazing kind, ornery, sassy and wonderful lady you are. You inspire me every day and I cannot express to you how much I love you." That no doubt, says it all.