Jeanne Wilder McNamee

In the early hours of November 22, Jeanne McNamee reunited with the love of her life after a separation of three years, eighty-one days and fifteen hours. Jeanne, born in 1936 to Adam S. Wilder and Mary Jane Heverling Wilder, spent most of her life living in Lebanon County PA, the last few years as a resident in the memory unit at Stone Ridge, Myerstown. Jeanne was a 1954 graduate of Lebanon High School, later serving as a reunion committee member, so she could keep in touch with her many childhood friends. She left Lebanon for Carlisle to attend Dickinson College (Class of 1958), where she was an energetic and active Pi Phi Sorority Sister and History major. Following a brief stint as a middle school teacher in Upper Darby, Jeanne returned to Lebanon and married her long-time sweetheart, Robert “Robin” McNamee. The chance meeting was meant to be, as Rob lived in the small Canadian village where the Wilders vacationed every summer. Jeanne and Rob made a home and raised a family in Central PA, while pursuing an extremely active social life. Both worked for the family business, The Lebanon Daily News. Jeanne, who was a reporter for fifteen years, ended her tenure at the newspaper as a prize-winning editor. Over the next thirty years, she would give back to the community she so loved as a YMCA SACC program supervisor, a Rape Crisis volunteer, advocate, a reproductive health services counselor and finally as a GED teacher for the Lebanon County Housing Authority. Jeanne supported Lebanon families as a board member of Planned Parenthood, the Sexual Assault & Resource Counseling Center, the Lebanon Junior Women’s Club and Easter Seals of Lebanon County. She and Rob were especially proud of their involvement with Lebanon Family Health and its programs that keep women and children healthy and empowered. Despite all these accomplishments, Jeanne is likely best known for her quick wit, love for fun and characteristic laugh. She was an avid knitter, an obsession surpassed only by her love for the many family pets. She will be remembered as a solid, thoughtful, kind mother and a Maw Maw who loved to cook fabulous meals, to take boat rides and to willingly sit through multiple dance, theatre, musical performances and sporting events. Jeanne will be missed by her family and friends, who admired her intelligence, advocacy and strong sense of doing what’s right, and not what’s easy. And for that laugh…always for that laugh. (We love you mums, “Jenny.” Be at peace.) Jeanne is survived by her three children, John Wilder (wife Kathleen Thompson, Gilbert AZ), Robert Adam (partner Monica Williams, Lebanon PA) and Mary Jane (husband Mark Kapolka, Lebanon PA), as well as by her grandchildren, Pamela Jeanne Kapolka (husband Raymond Moore), twins Sophie Jane and Wilder Albert Kapolka and Kevin John McNamee.. A private graveside service will take place at Mt. Lebanon Cemetery to lay her to rest alongside her beloved parents, Sis and Ad.

Jeanne Wilder McNamee

February 5, 1936 - November 22, 2024