Jean B. Christensen

Jean was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin on September 18, 1944 and passed away with her family at her side on April 21, 2021.

She graduated from the Milwaukee County General Hospital School of Nursing, cum laude, on August 20, 1965. While working on her nursing degree and attending a YMCA dance, she was swept off her feet by Peter, her future husband of 55 years. They married on August 28, 1965 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and moved to their new home on St. Croix, USVI. Jean began her nursing career as an emergency room and operation room nurse at the local hospital on St. Croix. She went on to work at the St. Croix Health Department, the Catholic Social Center, and as a school nurse for an elementary school. While on St. Croix, she became a mom with the birth of her daughter, Carmen in 1967.

In 1973, Jean and her family moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado while Peter earned his Ph.D. Jean worked as a nurse at a local retirement home and after Peter completed his education, Jean and her family moved to Puyallup, Washington where Jean once again worked as a nurse at a local retirement home. In 1976, Jean and her family moved to Orlando where they reunited with fellow Cruzan friends, the Lacombes and later the Larges and their families.

While in Orlando, Jean worked as a nurse at the Orange County Health Department where she had the opportunity to do home-visits for her patients. In her continuous pursuit of expanding her medical knowledge, Jean earned her Advanced Register Nurse Practitioner degree from Emory University in 1983. She then went on to earn her B.S. in Nursing, cum laude, in 1994 from the University of Central Florida while also taking courses at the University of Florida. Jean transitioned from nursing at the health department to working in private practice, providing ob/gyn nurse practitioner care for her numerous patients. While she retired from private practice several years ago, her passion for nursing continued along with her strong desire to provide compassionate care to those in need and she began volunteering as a nurse practitioner at Grace Medical Home. She was volunteering at Grace Medical up until her hospitalization.

In her nursing yearbook, Jean highlighted the following, which exemplifies her devotion:

Nursing is one of the vital professions cooperating with the other health disciplines. It is both an art and a science which directs its efforts towards the patient as a person, meeting his total needs and assisting him and his family to participate in his care and restore him to useful activity in the family unit and his community.

Jean is survived by her husband Peter Christensen, daughter Carmen Ward, son-in-law Rob Ward, grandchildren, Doug Ward, Jack Ward, and Maria Ward, twin brother Jim Bohanon, uncle Harlan Ross, brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Mike and Norma Christensen, and brothers-in-law, Olie Christensen and Frank Christensen.

The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Jean's honor to Grace Medical Home via the link provided. Grace Medical Home provides coordinated, comprehensive primary medical care. Their approach to care is to take the patient's entire well-being into consideration. Their mission is to be a medical home reflecting the heart of Christ by offering the highest level of health care to those in our community who need it most.

A Celebration of Life gathering will be held at Newcomer Funeral Home, 895 S. Goldenrod Road, Orlando from 1:00 PM -3:00 PM on Saturday, May 8, 2021. Friends and family are invited to share their memories of Jean and wear their favorite Caribbean/Cruzan attire. Jean will be interred on St. Croix at a later date.

Contributions may be made in memory of Jean via the following link-Grace Medical Home

To share your memories of Jean or to leave a special message for her family on line, please visit the guestbook below.