Jean Morrow Tune, 89, died at her home in Priceville on March 19, 2013.
She was born on May 9, 1923, in Oak Creek, Colorado, a small mining town in the Rocky Mountains, the beloved daughter of Ernest Morrow, the town’s first physician, and Helen, his wife and nurse.
During the almost 90 years in between, she loved and served her family, community, church, environment, and country with faith, knowledge, reason, and deep commitment. Among the many organizations and issues she helped advance were, the League of Women Voters, the United Methodist Church, public education, The Nature Conservancy, the Sierra Club, the Democratic Party, the Decatur and Wheeler Basin Regional Library, organic gardening and farming, Alabama Master Gardeners, Meals on Wheels and the Alabama Wild Flower Society. Other passions included music, dancing, great works of philosophy, literature and art, her dollhouse miniatures club, and mothers club, and most of all her friends.
She attributed her early interest in religion and politics, love of America, and commitment to justice and equality to her parents, especially her father, who in 1925, switched parties and won re-election as Oak Creek mayor on an anti-Klan ticket. Jean’s own principled stands included a nationally publicized 2002 arrest with fellow grandmother Gerry Coffee at a local Kroger supermarket for efforts to educate shoppers about the possible dangers of genetically engineered food.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver and a degree in medical illustration from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine where she met her husband-to-be Leon J. Tune, M.D. They were married in 1946, and – after stops in Florida, North Carolina and Colorado – moved to his native state of Alabama in 1955.
Jean is survived by daughters, Ranice Tune Skidmore, Sheryl Tune, and Lisa Tune (Mauro); son, Leon “Lee” J. Tune II (Margaret); and three grandchildren, Anna, Alex, and Bridget Rittman-Tune. Preceding her in death were her husband, Leon; daughter, Diane M. Tune; brother, Ernest Dean Morrow; and son-in-law, Robert Skidmore.
Services will be at Priceville United Methodist Church on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, visitation at 6 p.m. and memorial service at 7.
Donations may be made in Jean’s name to the Alabama Mountains Rivers & Valleys Resource Conservation & Development Council, a non-profit that supports conservation and sustainable farm and community practices and education in eight North Alabama counties; 5514 U. S. Highway 31 South Hartselle, Alabama 35640, 256-773-8495.
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