Jean Lou Mccool

Jean Lou McCool, 88, of Paola, Kansas, passed away Friday, March 22, 2024, at Life Care Center of Osawatomie.

Funeral Services will be held at 11:00am Tuesday, April 2, at the Living Proof Church of Paola, Kansas and a graveside service will be held at the Osawatomie Cemetery, Osawatomie, Kansas. A luncheon will be served afterward at the Living Proof Church. Memorial donations can be made to the Samaritan’s Purse charity and the Living Proof Church, in care of Dengel & Son Funeral Home, 305 N. Pearl Street, Paola, Kansas 66071.

Jean was born March 12, 1936, on a farm north of Durham, Kansas to Joseph T. and Mary Jane Dirks Unruh. She grew up in and around Marion and Hillsboro, Kansas, and graduated from the Durham High School. Jean went to Ottawa University and majored in Elementary Education. She received her master’s degree from the Emporia Kansas State Teachers College. She was united in marriage to Olin D. McCool on June 5, 1960, in Tampa, Kansas and together they became the proud parents of two sons. After their marriage they lived in Wichita, Kansas; Winslow, Arizona; Cushing, Oklahoma; and Holyrood, Kansas, before making their home in Paola, Kansas in 1973, where they lived out their rest of their lives. Olin and Jean were teachers on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and later both taught in Paola, Kansas. After earning her master’s degree, Jean taught Special Education at the North School in Paola until her retirement.

Olin and Jean were members of the Osawatomie Southern Baptist Church, and Jean enjoyed playing the piano frequently during the services there. Jean also enjoyed gardening, keeping a large vegetable garden, and growing many flowers at their various homes over the years. She especially loved Irises and her home in Paola was surrounded by them.

Jean was preceded in death by her husband Olin D. McCool, her sister Mary Jane Funk, and her brother Robert Unruh.

She leaves behind to cherish her memory her son Scott D McCool and wife Carol of Discovery Bay, California, Randy L. McCool of LaCygne, Kansas, sister Jan Eitzen of Newton, Kansas, brother Larry Unruh of Chicago, Illinois, six grandchildren, Michael and his wife Michelle, Adam and his wife September, Shannon and her husband John Bassett, Ashlynn, Ryan, and Caitlin McCool, seven great-grandchildren, and a multitude of friends and relatives all of whom will miss her dearly.

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