Lasting Memories

Jeane Bowman Tennant
Oct. 10, 1931-May 6, 2017
Menlo Park, California

Jeane Bowman Tennant peacefully passed away at her home in Menlo Park, CA, on Saturday, May 6, 2017, at the age of 85. She bravely battled the final stages of ALS and passed with her husband, daughter and two sons by her side.

Jeane was adored by her family, friends, and actually all those who met her during the course of her very full lifetime. She loved her family, travel, dancing, playing cards, tennis, quilting, cats and Chardonnay. She was generous, loving, creative and had a quick wit with an amazing sense of humor right up to the end.

She had the best shimmy out on the dance floor and was often referred to as "Jeane, the Dancing Machine." Her grandchildren named her "Jama" but she constantly reminded them to call her "Pretty Jama."

Jeane was born on October 10, 1931, in Oakland, CA, to parents Raymond Phillip and Jessie Ross Bowman. She grew up in Alameda, CA, and attended San Jose State University, where she embraced the sorority life in Alpha Phi.

After graduating with a degree in Fine Arts in 1953, Jeane and two girl friends traveled across the United States for six months, earning enough money by waitressing and housekeeping to buy tickets to cross "the pond" by boat.

They worked at Yosemite National Park, The Arizona Biltmore Hotel, The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado, The Greenbrier in West Virginia, The Concord Resort Hotel in the Catskill Mountains of New York, just to name a few. Once in Europe, the three friends bought a Volkswagen Bug and traveled throughout Europe for nearly a year. The stories from that trip are fantastic!

After her return to California (with her VW), she lived and worked in San Francisco, where, in 1959, she met and married Harold ("Hal") Butler Tennant.

In 1960 they moved to Menlo Park, CA, where they raised a daughter and two sons. Jeane was a devoted mother and can be accredited with attending just about every baseball, football, basketball, soccer game and tennis match that one of her children was playing in. As a devoted grandmother, she repeated the sports "gig" as she attended many, MANY baseball and basketball games and had the pleasure to add dance recitals and performances to her Jama resume.

But she wasn't just an observer, she was also an avid and accomplished tennis player herself, learning the game at Ladera Oaks Swim and Tennis Club in the early 1970s and playing until the age of 84.

Besides playing tennis, she was also an avid bridge player and an amazing quilter. Every quilt she made was not only a work-of-art, but was personalized for it's recipient through the choice of each piece of material and in the quilt pattern. She always found time to create and give her "art projects" to others as she loved people and loved giving. Jeane also made time to volunteer at Filoli in Woodside and the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.

Jeane and Hal shared a love for travel throughout their marriage and after Hal retired from Kennedy/Jenks Consultants in 1998, they set out to travel the world. They traveled both domestically and internationally and made annual New York City theater tours and International Film Festival trips to Palm Springs. Always very proud of her Scottish heritage, she and Hal traveled extensively throughout Scotland, where they continued to "develop" their love for "good" Scotch.

Jeane is survived by her husband of 57 years and lives on in their three children, their spouses, and their three grandchildren: Christine (Candace) of Newcastle, CA; Ross (Susanne) of Newcastle, CA; and Adam (Stephanie) of Danville, CA, and their children Clayton, Hayley and Bo. She is also survived by her brother, Ross Phillip Bowman of Payson, AZ.

Jeane will be remembered for her positive nature, her wit and sense of humor and her love for a "good time." Friends are invited to come by for an open house celebration of her life on Saturday, May 27, anytime between 1-4 p.m. at the Tennant home in Menlo Park.