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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn 
January 5, 1981 
Cassette 3, Side 1 
 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:01 
Okay. Jeanne Biehn interviewed by Susan Ehlers for Washington Women's Heritage Project, 
January 5, 1981. Tape three, side one.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:12 
Okay. How you met Mr. Biehn. 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  00:16 
Oh, well, there was this darling Jewish couple, and he was the fur buyer at the Emporium in 
Saint Paul. And so [?Nida?] had asked me to come and live with her after her sister got married 
and moved out, which I did. And this-- Bert and Virginia [inaudible] lived in the front building. 
I'll never forget it, because they had white carpeting and their shoes were always in the hall. 
They never wore shoes in their apartment. So Bert asked me one day if I would be interested in 
meeting this new buyer that had come to the store from New York, and he was the men's 
furnishings buyer. And this is when I was working at Hudson Motor. And I said, "Sure. Why 
not?" I was going with a, well, fella then, a big Minnesota butter and egg man, super nice, and 
nice-looking guy. Really, lots and lots of fun, but typical rah-rah boy. And so I said, "Sure. Why 
not?" So I went up. They invited me up the following week to have-- for dessert and coffee. And 
I was totally unimpressed with my husband, with-- then, because he wore rimless glasses and he 
was 11 years older than myself. And it was nice. He was polite. We had nice conversation, 
dessert, etc., etc. And I thought, "Well, you can't win them all." And never really thought about it 
any further. And then about two weeks later, I had been out with John -- butter and egg man -- 
and I'd gotten annoyed with him that night, and we came home and there was a note on my door. 
We had been to a dance or something. It was about two o'clock in the morning. And John had 
taken a note -- and it was addressed to me -- off the door, and I was at that point irritated with 
[?the man?], and I said, "In addition to everything else, you can't even read. That says me. That's 
my name on that note. Goodbye, goodnight." And so I got inside my apartment, and the note was 
from Mr. Biehn and it said that that he had been trying unsuccessfully to call me. He would like 
to take me out to dinner. Would I please call him anytime at my convenience. And he gave me a 
cell phone number. So I got undressed and got ready for bed, and I thought, "Woo! He said, 
'Anytime,' so I'll call him now." So this was about a quarter to three in the morning, so I called 
him, and he said, "My God, do you know what time it is?" And I said, "Yeah, but your note said 
'anytime.' So here I am." [They laugh.] So--  
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Susan Lynn Ehlers  03:03 
Took him at his word.  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  03:05 
Certainly. So we started dating, we went out to dinner, and he-- the longer I knew him, the more 
he grew on me. He was more-- he was a genteel, conservative man, probably the direct opposite 
of myself. And through all of our conversations, I'm sure he realized how important flying was to 
me. And, well, I know he knew, because he kept saying, "If it's a goal, you got to go do it." And I 
said, "That's right," right, said,"Anybody that gets married has got to be crazy." So any-- I-- he 
kept in very close contact all while I was at stewardess school. And then when I graduated and 
got my wings, he called me that night to find out where I was going, and I said I was being sent 
to Chicago, and he said that was magnificent. It wasn't far from Saint Paul. He could fly out and 
see me, which he did. And three months after I started flying, he proposed. And I said, "No." I 
was just enjoying it and having too good a time. So that's how I met him.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  04:19 
Okay, but, so you flew for about--  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  04:23 
A year.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  04:24 
--year, then you finally said yes, or...?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  04:27 
Well, he proposed on the-- tried another time. And I said, "Oh, I just couldn't get married now." I 
was just having such a wonderful time. And John, the third time, he said, "I'm not going to 
propose again. It's either 'Let's get married...'" And that was a terrible choice to make, because I 
really did love my job. Of course, today you can be married and still continue, but those days 
there was automatic termination of jobs. So it was really a tough decision. But I thought, "Gosh, 
he's everything I really admire in a man and what to do, what to do..." I thought, "Well, I 
probably better just hold my nose and jump right in." So I did. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  05:21 
Okay, you really felt broken up about having to [crosstalk]?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  05:24 
Yes, yes. Yes, I really did not want to stop flying.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  05:31 
Okay. Remember anything in particular about your wedding? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  05:39 
I don't remember my wedding. I really, truly do not. I flew right up until a week before I was to 
be married. My sister in law and my mother did all the plans and preparation. I flew home once 
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to buy a dress, and then my sister and sister in law were the only two attendants I had. And I was 
so terrified, and-- that I actually-- I vaguely remember-- I mean, seriously, so frightened at being 
married. Well, that was the start of World War Three, when I went home and said I was going to 
be married. Because, number one, Mr. Biehn was not of my faith. Though he had taken Catholic 
instructions, the priest said he was a super nice guy, but he'd make one hell of a terrible Catholic, 
leave him alone.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  06:29 
[Laughs.] 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  06:29 
Uh-huh, said, "Alright." And he was 11 years older than I, so my parents really frowned on that. 
Talking about going back, they really had a terrible time with me. And so my mind was made up. 
This was the man I was going to marry, and that was that, and that should give me some insight, 
well, you would think, with my boys today. But I can-- all I do remember standing in the back of 
the church, on my dad's arm, saying, "I don't know what the hell I'm doing here. I really don't 
know." [Laughs] My dad kept saying, "Well, we don't have to do this, you know?" We can 
always leave." And my hand was just perspiring. I kept rubbing my hand on my dad's sleeve, and 
he kept saying, "Look, if you want to leave, we can leave right now." And I remember saying, 
"Oh, well, what the hell. If it doesn't work, I'll just get a divorce and go back and fly." "And we 
can't, I don't know, there's all these people here. Let's just go do it." And I don't-- I remember 
that-- I also remember the priest having to tell me to speak up because he couldn't hear my vows. 
And I honestly do not remember walking down the aisle. I don't remember the reception. They 
had-- this photographer was running around and poking and pushing and setting us in places and 
taking situation pictures and the whole thing, and I don't remember any of it. Till we got back 
from our honeymoon and I saw the proofs, I couldn't, honest to God, tell you...  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:25 
But there weren't any particular special customs or anything like that?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  08:34 
No, my father gave me away and, you know, no.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:34 
Okay. 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  08:35 
We did not go through the traditional Belgian wedding, where they have the big dance and it's an 
all-day [inaudible] and an all-day [inaudible]. No, very quiet [inaudible].  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:44 
Okay, on... You said your husband was 11 years older than you. Did that ever cause any 
particular problems, or...?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  08:53 
For him or for me?  
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Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:55 
Either way. 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  08:56 
No, no, he was a super sensitive man, workaholic, devoted to his business and his family. His 
family came first, his business second, and golf third. No, it never did. I raised the boys Catholic 
through high school, and we would go to-- the boys and myself would go to church, and Don 
would fix breakfast. And he would go to church on special occasions, boys' First Communion, 
confirmation, that sort of thing. No, it really never caused-- I felt probably more secure with an 
older man, and yet he didn't seem that much older to me. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  09:46 
Okay, so he wasn't Catholic, never became Catholic. Was he any particular religion? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  09:51 
He was born and raised Congregational.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  09:54 
Did that ever cause any...?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  09:55 
No, because he didn't practice his religion.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  10:01 
Who made most decisions in your family?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  10:08 
Business-wise, of course, it was all his decisions. I would say... My husband traveled a great 
deal. You see from-- we were married, and then he worked at the Emporium as a buyer, and then 
a year and a half later, he and his brother opened a men's store in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and 
after a year in that business, that's when I went back to modeling to supplement the income and 
keep myself busy, because by that time I had my oldest child, David, and I wanted to do 
something, because I was really bored staying home. And so after a year in that business, we 
realized it would be a good income for one family, but certainly not two, at least in the custom 
that we wanted to live. So Don was then offered this position with Black Manufacturing. He 
came out here as his merchan-- as their merchandise manager, which was a real treat for us, 
because in the retail business, it's a six-day week, and particularly being a buyer and being in 
charge of department, it's more like 36 hours a day, rather than 24. So we came out here really 
excited that— 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  11:39 
About 1952 or something like that? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  11:41 
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.  
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Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  11:43 
--that we were going to have weekends free. And that lasted for a while. And then Michael was 
born in 1956, wasn't he? Isn't that terrible? My poor mind's going senile.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  12:08 
Michael, yeah, '56. David, Steven, and Michael.  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  12:09 
Right. Michael was born in 1956 and he was six months old. So in 19-- I would say, in the 
beginning of 1957, my husband and two partners were offered an opportunity to buy Black 
Manufacturing, which they did. So there we are, back to the eight-day week, 36 hours a day.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  12:33 
Okay. Then you made the decisions about the home? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  12:37 
Mm-hmm.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  12:39 
Okay. On having children, was that planned or it just happened? And how did you feel about 
when you found out the first time you were pregnant?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  12:50 
I was just scared to death. Well, number one, being 11 years older, my husband was very anxious 
to start a family. I was not. And so my first pregnancy was a total surprise, and... Because David 
was born 11 months after we were married. And Don was ecstatic, and I was just devastated. I 
didn't know a thing about babies, nor did I really want to know a whole lot about babies, but the 
die was cast [laughs]. And so it all turned out fine. David was a delightful child and an easy baby 
to have and to take care of. And so after the initial shock wore off and I knew what was eminent, 
no, I was-- it was a very worthwhile, wonderful experience. But with Steven, we-- I just held off 
and waited. I wanted to know that I had this thing down pretty pat before I went into this thing a 
second time. And I still contend if all the men in the world were to have the babies, every time 
we'd have one, and that's all. But then Steven was born three years later, and I thought after two 
that would really be swell and wanted to quit. And then Michael was another little surprise 
looming on the horizon, and the only thing I kept thinking is, well, it would be nice to have three, 
in case something happened to one, and it wouldn't be an only child, and who knows, this one 
could be a little girl. I was wrong on all counts.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  14:37 
Okay, so you never had a girl. Did you ever feel sorry about that? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  14:40 
Mm-hmm, and my husband even more so wanted a daughter, but I went to school on my sister 
because my father was a twin, and often this repeats. And so my sister-- I had the three boys and 
my husband really wanted to have-- go for another, because I'm the fourth, you usually have a 
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turn of sexes. And my sister had three girls, and she called me and she said, "Oh, I'm so excited. 
I'm pregnant. I just know I'm going to have a boy." And so I said, "Good for you. I'll go to school 
on you." Well, my sister had twin girls, and that did it. I said, "I don't need five boys." So I said, 
"That's that. I'm through."  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  15:29 
Okay. Who helped out with your children? Did you turn to your family, or was there any 
[crosstalk]?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  15:47 
I had no family out here.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  15:48 
Any friends or any...? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  15:48 
Oh, we lived in Shorewood for three years and met many, many fantastic, wonderful people. 
With my second pregnancy, I was very sick and threatened abortion, so spent probably seven of 
the nine months in bed. And I have some wonderful, wonderful friends who I still see daily, on a 
daily, weekly basis, who live here on the island, and they helped me through that. But no, none 
of us-- number one, it was a real melting pot of everyone. Everyone at that time moving to 
Seattle that were young couples sort of ended up in Shorewood. That's where I met Mary, Fran, 
and Phil. We were all broke. We all had youngsters. All of us had one car. It was a real fun, fun 
time. As a matter of fact, in one building, four of us delivered our second children. Well, not 
necessarily second. Was my second; it was Jane's first; it was Flo's third; and Bobby's third or 
fourth. We all delivered in-- within one week. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  17:06 
This is all in one apartment building? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  17:08 
Mm-hmm. So, we really had a super time. And we didn't have babysitters. We sat for one 
another. If somebody had to go out, one of us sat and then we never kept a log as to who owed 
who what, it was just-- it was-- this was our family here. No-- I had no family. They all had no 
families here. They were all back in the Midwest or the East Coast. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  17:33 
On taking care of the children, who made most of the decisions on [inaudible]?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  17:40 
My husband traveled practically -- with Black Manufacturing. They did a great deal of brokerage 
business with Alaska, so that he was gone from like Sunday night, Monday morning through 
Friday. So I pretty much had to make the decisions with the boys as a on the spot decision, like, 
if they needed to be disciplined, they needed to be disciplined now, not when Daddy got home. I 
didn't believe in that, and I still don't. Thank God, because I am now left with the three of-- 
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though they're grown men today. But no, no. In those days, men went to work and we all had fun 
as a family, but the everyday discipline came from Mother.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:30 
Did you have any particular problems with any of the boys?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  18:35 
Not emotional. Physically, we had with Steven, he had Perthes' disease.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:40 
Oh, what's that? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  18:42 
That's the reverse of a congenital hip. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:44 
[Gasps.]  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  18:45 
And so that he was in a brace for three and a half years to correct that situation. He was the one 
who always had the broken legs and broken [?arming?], broken arms, and--  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  19:00 
What do you mean? He kept having accidents?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  19:02 
Oh, on its way to happen, it was Steven who always got it. No. Those were the only problems I 
had with the boys. He just-- he was just not only gregarious, but accident- prone. I knew when 
someone would yell and fall off a swing, it was Steve. Just automatic, it had to be Steve.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  19:18 
Did you feel that your husband was supportive, or did feel that because it was gone all the time 
that it [crosstalk]? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  19:34 
Oh no. He was very supportive, and he worshipped his family. His family came first. And 
unfortunately, he felt very badly about his traveling, but it was a necessity. And the boys looked 
forward to their Daddy coming home, and he spent as much time with them as possible. He 
didn't play nearly as much golf as he would like to have, but his form of recreation and total 
relaxation was golf. I did not play at that time, because I felt... Number one, we couldn't afford 
for two of us to play and have a sitter and the whole shot. So that he would get out maybe 
Saturday or Sunday, but never both days, and spend that time with his boys the other time when 
he was home.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  20:23 
How did you feel about coming to Northwest from the Midwest? 
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Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  20:26 
[Gasps] That was really-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  20:28 
[Inaudible] climate, you know, [inaudible] climate and whatnot.  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  20:30 
Well, see, I had never been West, only to fly to San Francisco, and of course, San Francisco, I 
thought, was a fantastic city. And when Don said that we were being transferred to Seattle, I 
honestly didn't even know where Seattle was, what it was, or anything. So we drove from 
Michigan out here and sort of made it a vacation with our oldest child. And we arrived in the 
summertime, and it was delightful. But then come September 1, it started to rain, and I thought, 
"My God, what is this? It's never-ending. I don't believe this city," but as I got to know more 
people in Shorewood and got-- and just got into the city... You don't-- in Minnesota or the 
Midwest, you dress your child up in a snowsuit and say, "Go make a snowman out in the yard." 
But you don't send your child out here in a monsoon and play in a quagmire. So I thought, "What 
do you do with children [inaudible] [laughs]?" It was just devastating. I thought, "Oh, this is 
awful. I'll never survive." But as I say, once I got to know more of the ladies in Shorewood -- and 
we were all in the same boat, pretty much -- it became less and less a burden. And now, today, 
wild horses couldn't drive me to the East Coast or to the Midwest. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  21:57 
Oh, you said you started modeling.  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  22:02 
Oh, that was while I was in Michigan, and my husband was opening this store. Yes, a friend of--  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  22:09 
That was after you had your first child? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  22:11 
Mm-hmm. And-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  22:13 
How did you get into that?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  22:15 
I had done some of it in college, and enjoyed it, and it was a fun way to wear beautiful clothes 
and not have to buy them. And my husband was busy working in this-- with opening the new 
store. And I was living-- we were living with his brother in law, or his brother, my brother in 
law, and in order to put all the capital we had into the store so that... She had a teenage daughter, 
and-- Dorothy and Larry had a teenage daughter who was home a lot, and Dorothy was home, 
and I could see no reason for two women to be in the household. There wasn't that much to do. 
So, and a very good friend of ours had a lovely, lovely ladies' store and did weekly fashion 
shows. So I only did it maybe once or twice a week, but it was enough to keep me stimulated. I 
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just never really enjoyed-- I enjoyed raising the boys and I enjoyed my home, but I always felt a 
need for some outside interest.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  23:20 
Did you keep it up after you came to Seattle?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  23:23 
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  23:25 
What did you do the modeling then?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  23:28 
Oh, here I did it just on sort of a private basis for smaller stores that were putting on shows. I 
didn't want and my husband did not want me to get into it professionally so that I would be doing 
something every day, because of there was-- because it wasn't just the show itself. It was fittings, 
it was hair, it was nails, it was the whole thing. So he didn't object if it was just like a once-a-
week type thing. And then as soon as I moved to Seattle, Timmie Marshall took me to my first 
Clipped Wings meeting, and that's when I really got interested in retarded children and found 
that I could be doing outside worthwhile projects and keep busy and not... It's difficult to explain. 
I wasn't bored at home, but I always felt I needed to do something more. I needed to be kept 
busy, challenged, or whatever you want to call it. So in Clipped Wings, working with retarded 
children and having, at that point, two children of my own, I felt how lucky I was, how grateful I 
was they were normal children. So from th-- I joined Clipped Wings in 1953 and I've been an 
active member ever since.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  24:44 
Okay, getting that little bit towards the end [crosstalk]. 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  24:52 
Oh, gosh, and it's 10:30.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  24:53 
End of tape three, side one, Jeanne Biehn interviewed by Susan Ehlers. 
 