Jeanne Arlys Cortright Neff, born October 16, 1929 in Fort Dodge Iowa , died February 5, 2025 in Flagstaff, Arizona, aged 95 years.

Jeanne was born to Everett Stuart and Gertrude Colby Cortright who had a son, Robert Stuart Cortright, a year later.  In her 14th year the family moved to Corvallis, Oregon where Everett was Professor of Speech and Theatre until his retirement; Gertrude worked for Red Cross.

Attending Oregon State College Jeanne joined the OSC Mountain Club, making lifelong friends and meeting her future husband Don Johnson Neff. It was at OSC that Jeanne found and pursued folkdancing which likewise lasted her lifetime.

Jeanne and Don graduated and married in 1951 before Don shipped off to Korea with US Marine Corps, fulfilling his NROTC scholarship with four years of service.  They then lived in Ft Collins, Colorado for Don's Masters studies at Colorado State, for two summers enjoying a delayed and protracted honeymoon studying beavers in the high meadows south of Gunnison.  A son, John, was born in 1956.

More college, as Don undertook a doctorate, back to Oregon State, family, another summer in the woods; then, as another son, James, was born in 1958, the family moved to Prescott, Arizona as Don was hired as a research biologist for the Arizona Game and Fish Dept.

Seven years later, upon Don's transfer to Flagstaff, the boys being self-sufficient, Jeanne took a post with the Flagstaff Public Schools, which grew into support for the federal Title I reading program, a thirty years career.

In sixty years in Flagstaff the Neffs engaged in backpacking, skiing, boy scouting, a lot of bicycling, continuous involvement with folkdance, and homesteading north of town where they resided in their owner-built home for forty years.

Don died at home in 2020. Jeanne took up residence with her son's family next door to her own, and died there, five years after her husband's passing.

A celebration of life will be held on Sunday, May 4, at 6190 Black Bill Rd. north of Flagstaff.