Jean Elizabeth Mann Williams, passed away January 4th , 2025 at the age of 106 in
Crawfordsville, Indiana. She was born in Winchester, Illinois on October 16,1918, the
daughter of Lecie Evans Mann and Roberts Mann. Jean graduated from Winchester
High School at the age of 16 and then attended The University of Illinois where she won
the Journalism Prize, graduating with Honors in 1938.
After graduating Jean went to Chicago where she found work as a copywriter working
for Montgomery Ward. While in Chicago she met her future husband, Eliot C. Williams,
Jr. and they were married November 10th , 1945 after Eliot return from being stationed in
Hawaii during WWII.
In 1948 Jean and Eliot moved to Crawfordsville expecting to stay for a one-year
teaching position at Wabash College but fell in love with the college and the town, never
to leave -- becoming a fixture of Wabash academic and social life and active members
of the Crawfordsville community.
Jean was a long-time member of The Athenian Club where she gave many memorable
talks about a wide range of subjects, reflecting her life-long curiosity about the world. An
accomplished traveler, Jean visited 115 countries on all seven continents, in all 24 time
zones and all 50 of the United States over the course of her lifetime. Jean remained
alert and interested in the world and everyone around her to the very end of her life.
She is preceded in death by her husband Eliot, her sister Priscilla Bell and brother
Richard E. Mann. She is survived by her four sons, Eliot Churchill Williams III (Jane),
Jonathan Paul Williams (Linda), Robert Monroe Williams (Jean), and Richard Irwin
Williams (Inge) as well as numerous beloved grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
The family is deeply grateful to the staff of Whitlock Place, and to Carol Homann and
Mary Charleson for their devoted friendship and care of Jean in her final years.
A memorial service for Jean will be held at the Wabash College Chapel in
Crawfordsville on Saturday, May 10th at 2 p.m. with a reception to follow at the Caleb
Mills House next to Lilly Library on the mall. In lieu of flowers, a donation in Jean's
memory can be made to Wabash College, where she is an Honorary Alumna, Class of
1953.