For years, decades even, hell, almost a century, it seemed nothing could stop Jean Timmons. She used to say, "If there was something faster than fast forward, they'd call it Jean." She barreled through life with curiosity, determination and an adventurous spirit. That spirit lives on in all who knew her.

Five weeks after celebrating her 99th birthday with cake and champagne, Jean died September 1, 2023, at her home near Elbert, Texas. She appeared to have been watering her plants, and perhaps cursing the Texas heat, when she collapsed.

She was never comfortable just sitting around (her children, of course, are a different story). Jean just had to be doing something. Whether it was baking 10 loaves of bread as she used to do in the 1970s, or taking a yoga class, something she did for more than 50 years, she needed to be in motion. Her 22 finishes in Spokane's Lilac Bloomsday Run attest to that, as do her many volunteer works and activities. In Texas, she was an election judge in Elbert, volunteered as a docent at the Old Jail Art Center museum in Albany and helped establish the Throckmorton Depot Library. She also returned to college in her 70s, moving to Austin and taking classes at the University of Texas.

Jean Betty Kulhanek was born on July 28, 1924 in St. Paul, Minn. She was the youngest of three sisters of immigrant parents, who came to this country from what was then Czechoslovakia. Jean was proud of her heritage and, in her later life, visited the Czech Republic several times, learning the language and culture and reconnecting with lost relatives.

When America began hiring women to take clerical jobs overseas so servicemen could return home shortly after WWII, Jean, in her early 20s, leaped at the chance. She boarded a ship from Brooklyn, New York to Fukuoka, Japan and, true to her nonstop nature, painted the ship's deck along the way.

In Japan, she kept busy riding horses in the countryside, attending the war crimes trial of Gen. Hideki Tojo in Tokyo and starting her own radio show, "Joy From Jeanie." She slowed down just long enough to catch the eye of the base commander, Gordon Timmons, and they were married in just two months. The couple returned to the states, where they had five children in five years before Gordon was called back overseas, this time for the Korean War. For a full year, Jean alone wrangled three girls and two boys, all under the age of 6. The question was often posed, "Who had the more dangerous duty?"

The couple would move eight more times and have four more children before settling down for 20 years in Eastern Washington, where Gordon taught at Columbia Basin College and the family farmed more than 600 acres in what is known as the Columbia Basin Project. While Gordon was teaching economics, Jean was practicing it as she got nine children through school — packing lunches, sewing clothes and driving all around the county to keep up with their activities. She also worked on the farm — irrigating fields, feeding chickens, horses, dogs and cats and occasionally running for her life from a stray bull. She called the farm her and Gordon's greatest adventure. Jean continued that adventure in Elbert when the couple moved there to retire in 1986, insisting on getting a few head of longhorn cattle that continue to roam the ranch.

She is survived by her nine children and their spouses: Kathy, Linda Hermann (Steve), Scott (Rina), Jim (Alison), Tamara Timmons Sandquist (Keven), Dallas, Timothy (Natasha), Kelly (Missy) and Susanna (Mike); 10 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren. Gordon died in 2014. Jean also leaves behind many friends from many places who witnessed her love of animals (all strays welcome), her delicious and prolific cooking (no one leaves hungry or empty-handed), her competitive spirit (Scrabble) and her opinions (don't bring up Texas politics). She urged her kids to skip the sitcoms to watch the sunset, to study hard, work hard and stay out of trouble, and to enjoy life. She certainly did.

A memorial service will be held on September 20, 2023, at 10 a.m. at Elbert Baptist Church in Elbert, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Throckmorton Depot Library, P.O. Box 6, Throckmorton, Texas 76483; Humane Society of Young County, 120 Craig Street, Graham, Texas 76450; or to Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, P.O. Box 96168, Washington, DC, 20077-7168.