Jeanine Bertha (Schad) Ryan made her big debut on February 27, 1930, at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, just in time for the Great Depression and a ride home in her dad’s brand spankin’ new Ford Model A. Jeanine grew up on a picturesque farm in Plainview, Minnesota, under the protective wing of her parents Christian and Catherine Schad and in the (usually) delightful company of her five beloved sisters Marilyn Muller, Virginia Carlson, Catherine Schaber, Suzanne Smith, and Loretta Gosse and her five beloved brothers Michael, Bernard, Christian, Thomas, and John Schad.
Jeanine, a very good dancer, married Jaque David Ryan, a fella who could really burn up the dance floor, on May 4, 1949 and said farewell to him on September 8, 2000. Jeanine raised seven rowdy kids who’ve always had the rowdiest kind of love for her, but none of whom are very good dancers (despite what a few of them think).
On February 15, 2022 (11 days before her 92nd birthday), Jeanine said her final farewells to her five sons Gregory (Carol Grant), Michael (Kathie Perkins), Patrick (Joanne DeFosse), Terry (Rita O’Neill), Scott (Mary Jeter), her two daughters Kathryn Ryan and Karen Martin, and her nine grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
Jeanine was one half of the dynamic duo that made Ryan’s Electric a success and kept seven kids housed, clothed, educated, and entertained. After Jeanine retired, she transformed herself into an antiques dealer with lots of enthusiastic and kind of bossy help from her antiques wheeler-dealer sis Loretta. For many years, the two sisters traveled to antique shows from Minneapolis to Miami, San Diego to Seattle and lots of places in between.
Jeanine dearly loved books and was the consummate bookworm, inhaling books at the speed of light right up to the end. She especially loved biography and history.
Jeanine also knew everything there was to know about the Minnesota Vikings—game schedules, player stats, draft picks, and definitely who should be traded, particularly when it came to quarterbacks. She stuck with her beloved team through thick and thin, mostly thin. (Down with Green Bay!)
A celebration of Jeanine’s life and recent relocation to heaven will break out on Saturday, February 26th from 4 pm to 7 pm at Macken Funeral Home, 1105 12th St. SE, Rochester, MN. Please come decked out in your favorite face mask, preferably not black and be sure to bring lots of kleenex to wipe away tears of love, laughter, and loss.
If you’re so inclined, please make a donation in honor of Jeanine to the Salvation Army in lieu of flowers.
And as Jeanine would say, read a book.
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