Jeanne W. B. Anderson

March 16, 1928 ~ June 4, 2015
Jeanne Williams Brooks Anderson died June 4 at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT. She was born to Kimball Williams and Trena Nielson Williams at Cortez, CO.
Her ancestral family arrived in Utah with the Willy Handcart Company. Her great-grandfather, Jens Nielson, is known as the founder of several communities including Cedar City and Bluff, UT as part of the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition.
Every summer on the last day of school, Jeanne rode the Lyman Freight Truck from Grand Junction to Blanding where she caught the US Mail truck to Bluff to spend the summer with her grandparents, Freeman and Margaret Nielson.
Growing up in the Depression Era, Jeanne learned to value and love gardening and, later in her adult life, had truly splendid gardens in Bluff.
She had a natural curiosity, loved archeology and geology, no doubt influenced by the beautiful natural surroundings of southeast Utah.
She graduated from high school in Grand Junction, CO and attended Mesa College.
Her marriage to George Brooks in 1946 produced four children: Cynthia, Katheryn, Patrick and Michael. Married to Boyd Anderson in 1958 (until his death in 2000), her youngest son Alan, was born.
Jeanne was wholly dedicated to San Juan County and worked on behalf of the community to develop the Sand Island picnic area and negotiated with an oil company to sell their foot bridge, also known as the Swinging Bridge, for $1 to the Navajo Nation, making travel more convenient for tribal members.
Truly of pioneer stock, Jeanne was an industrious worker in addition to her philanthropy. In the late 1950’s, she worked at the family business, the Twin Rocks Trading Post, in Bluff. She also worked in several physician and dental offices throughout the years and for Delta Plan Insurance.
She retired from Educators Mutual Insurance Association in Salt Lake City in 1993.
Her survivors include her children Cynthia Schneider of Puyallup, WA; Kaye (Randy) Stambaugh of San Diego, CA; Patrick (Julie) Brooks of San Diego, CA; Michael (Valerie) Brooks of Ketchikan, AK; Alan Anderson of Tooele, UT; eleven grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Jeanne was preceded in death by her only brother, Neil Williams, and her husband, Boyd Anderson.
At her request, no formal services will be held. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Adopt-A-Native Elder, a charity supporting elderly traditional Navajo weavers.