Jeanette A. McCracken, February 27, 1903 - February 1, 2000

 

I have tons of information about Jeanette and her life which I will post here.

Her father was Edwin Booth Smith who was born near Yellowbud and Chillicothe, Ohio. He left Ohio for central Illinois where he met Josephine Van Dongen, whom he impressed by reining his horses high as he passed by her in Decatur, IL. They had a child that was still born or died obly hours or days ols. They also had Howard Edwin Smith (my grandfather) in 1889. Shortly after Jeanette was born in 1903, EB moved the family to Knox County, Missouri where land was cheap.

He liked dealing and kept moving the family around Northeast Missouri. During the depression, he lost the farm he had purchased near Palmyra. They eventually settled in LaBelle, where Jeanette grew up except when visiting her cousins back in Decatur. Jeanette went to college at Stephenson and then the University of Illinois. She taught school in Lewistown and LaBelle, until she married Doctor Harry McCracken, a local boy who became a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine. He didn't want his wife working, at least not outside the home, where he had his office with its waiting room always full of patients.

Once, the school board came to Doc and begged him to let Jeanette teach as they were short of a teacher. He agreed. After his death in 1960, Jeanette went back to teaching in Williamsburg, IL, near Springfield and Decatur and her cousins. She retired from there at age 70 despite the School Boeard asking her to stay on. She loved teaching high school. She felt she really could help these kids prepare for life.

Upon retiring, she returned to LaBelle and continued active in the Baptist Church. Her mother was catholic, but in those days, there was no catholic church nearby. She also remained active in the Eastern Star and invested time and money in the construction of the LaBelle's only nursing care center and in independant-living senior housing projects.

When she turned 90, we threw a party for her and invited just about the whole town, whoever we could get word to. It was an icy day and we took her to lunch in Edina. After lunch, at the appointed time, we drove up to Mauck's Restaurant in LaBelle for the party. Jeanette refused to go in because it was after lunch and only the help would be there cleaning up after the lunch crowd. We had to finally tell her that the whole town was inside waiting to wish her a happy birthday. She had a great time and spoke of it often for years afterward.

Funeral and graveside pictures (beware these are actual photos)

 

 

 

 

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