Jeanne Marjorie (West) Roby was born June 6, 1921, in March, Cambridgeshire, England, and departed this life Thursday, March 18, 2021, in Pullman. She was with family and friends at the time of her passing, just two months and nineteen days short of her 100th birthday. Affectionately called “Queen Jeanne,” she was a force of energy, a pillar of strength, and a “modern” woman who lived her life to the fullest.
Jeanne had loving parents and a wonderful childhood. When she was five months old, she moved with her parents, Marjorie and Frederick West, to Cambridge, England, where she lived until 1946 when she moved — for love — to join her husband, Harold Roby, in Bozeman, Mont. She was great chums with her younger brother, Kenneth, and often reminisced about family beach holidays at Bridlington in Yorkshire and Clackton-on-Sea in Essex. The family belonged to the Cambridge Motor Boat Club at Waterbeach and she was her father’s first mate on board their river boat, The Joyce Mary.
Jeanne graduated from the Cambridgeshire County High School for Girls and was proud to be in the same class as P.D. James, who later went on to become a well-known writer of mystery books which Jeanne loved to read. At school, she was athletic and played tennis and was captain of the school for field hockey and netball. After high school, she attended Cambridge Business College. WWII was declared in 1939, and in 1940, all women aged 18 and older were conscripted to help with the war effort. Jeanne took Red Cross training and worked at the R.A.F. sick bay, and was part of Report and Control at Cambridge Guild Hall where she helped dispatch rescue squads to areas of bombings and fires. Her only sibling, Kenneth, whom she dearly loved, was killed in a Lancaster bomber July 4, 1944, on a mission over France.
As a result of a chance meeting at a Masonic gathering, a handsome American airman from Montana, Harold Roby, was invited to tea by Jeanne’s father. Jeanne and Harold soon fell in love and were married Nov. 10, 1944, in the Parish Church in Grantchester Village. After sending love letters across the Atlantic for a year, Jeanne joined 2,335 other war brides and children in February 1946 on the Queen Mary and sailed to New York. She was interviewed by a reporter who told her that only cowboys and Indians lived in Montana and they lived in tents. Yet, she boarded the North Coast Limited train in Chicago and arrived in Bozeman on Valentine’s Day 1946 to below-zero temperatures.
In 1949, she proudly became a naturalized citizen of the United States before Judge W. W. Lessley at the Bozeman Courthouse. Because she had been busy with jobs during the war, she yearned to go to work and took a secretarial position with First National Bank, now U.S. Bank. Thus began a 30-year career with the bank with a short hiatus in 1951, when her only child, Kristine, was born. At first, she worked as secretary to the president. She was sent for training at headquarters in Minneapolis where she met a few other women moving up the ranks. She was promoted to assistant trust officer in 1961, trust officer in 1968 and vice president and trust officer in 1974. She retired in 1979. Many women in the community, especially widows, became loyal customers and sought out Jeanne’s financial advice over the years. She headed the Women’s Department of the Bank and later laughed about it because she was the only woman in the department. She loved her job with the bank and took every opportunity to talk with young women about the great prospects for them in banking. She continued to stay involved with the bank after retirement by promoting local artists and arranged for showings of their works in the bank.
Although neither Jeanne nor Harold attended Montana State University, they were both strong supporters of the university and were true-blue Bobcats fans. Jeanne served on the Foundation Board of Directors for MSU for 24 years. In 1988, she received the Blue and Gold Award from MSU for her service to the university and the community. Other awards include the Bozeman Rotary Club Community Service Award in 1986, the Award for Excellence from the MSU Alumni Association and the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce in 1987. Jeanne was elected to the Board of Trustees for the Museum of the Rockies in 1976, served until 1989 and was named Trustee Emerita in 1990. The Bozeman Deaconess hospital also benefited from years of her service. She was a longtime member of the Soroptimist Club and was proud of serving on the Soroptimist Club Board when the Soroptimist Park was established on East Main Street. She served for several years on the Board for the Bozeman Opera and helped organize the yearly art show to benefit the Bozeman High School Worthy Student Scholarship fund.
Jeanne and Harold were founding members of the Valley View Country Club and from the first year she picked up clubs, she started winning trophies. She and Harold enjoyed many trips to golf courses around Montana and Arizona. In retirement, they took cruises to Alaska and through the Panama Canal.
Jeanne was known for her green thumb and had a lovely English garden at her home on South Tracy. She judged the homegrown sweet peas for a number of years at the annual Sweet Pea Festival.
Her mother, Marjorie West, came for visits from England every two to three years until she moved to Bozeman to live with Jeanne, Harold and Kristine in 1963. Marjorie met many friends at St. James Episcopal Church and helped other church women make and sell hundreds of plum puddings at Christmastime.
Jeanne was also devoted to St. James and served as president of the Saint James Episcopal Memorial Foundation for decades. She was inducted into the Order of St. James on July 25, 2006, and the Guild Room in the church was dedicated to her July 7, 2013.
After Harold died in 1993, Jeanne stayed active with community service and trips with close friends. In 2007, she sold the family home on South Tracy and moved to Aspen Pointe, where she engaged in activities with long-time friends. In 2013, she moved to Bishop Place in Pullman to be close to her daughter, Kris, and her son-in-law, Rodney. Her outgoing personality and bridge helped her meet friends immediately. Throughout her life, she wrote rhyming ditties for friends and she continued to do so at Bishop Place, penning one for Roger Spencer which was read every year at the “Daffodil Days” celebration. She relished day trips around the Palouse and loved visiting the UI Arboretum. She thought the arboretum was a treasure and enjoyed the tours that Paul Warnick, arboretum horticulturist, provided to her and residents at Bishop Place.
Jeanne was preceded in death by her parents, Marjorie and Frederick West; her brother, Kenneth West; and her devoted husband, Harold Roby. She is survived by her daughter, Kristine, and son-in-law, Rodney, and his son, Matthew Frey (Kelly); sister-in-law, Lois Roby; nephews Allen Brandt, Brian Brandt (Louise), Clint (Mary) Roby, Darrell (Molly) Roby, and their children and grandchildren; and niece Karlyn Sorrentino and her children and grandchildren; niece-in-law, Deidra Frey and her children and grandchild. Kris’s close friends, Daryl Purdy Wallace (Rich) and Karen Martin Kinsey (John), were like daughters to Jeanne, and Daryl and Rich’s children Leah (Luke), Cole (Lyndi) and grandchildren Maddie, James, Cooper and Ana were loved by her.
Although her mind was sharp, her hip was worn out and fortunately Kris and Rodney were able to be with her throughout 2020-21 and wish to thank her caregivers during the past year, especially Jessie Penman and her daughters Hailey and Amber. Gratitude is also extended to Cynthia, Nai, Evelyn, Mariah and Danielle. Many thanks to Deacon Dianne Lowe and Father Clark Sherman for their spiritual care and to Dr. Stephanie Fosback and Nurse Cheryl for their devoted care.
While a service was planned for this fall, because of COVID-19, a service at St. James Episcopal Church in Bozeman and a celebration of life won’t be held until 2022.
Gifts in Jeanne’s memory may be sent to one of the following: Paul Warnick Arboretum Scholarship c/o University of Idaho Foundation 875 Perimeter Drive – MS 3143 Moscow, ID 83844-3143; Jeanne and Harold Roby Scholarship, College of Business Fund 94182, MSU Alumni Foundation, PO Box 172750, Bozeman, MT 59717 checks should be written to MSUAF; St. James Episcopal Church Memorial Foundation Memo: Jeanne Roby Memorial Flower Fund c/o Pat Dunn 1651 S. Black Ave., Bozeman, MT 59715.
