Page 1 of 13 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn 
February 24, 1981 
Cassette 3, Side 2 
 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:04 
Jeanne Biehn interviewed by Susan Ehlers for Washington Women's Heritage Project, February 
24, 1981.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:15 
Okay, now this one, I'm not sure I asked you this. Do you remember having any sex education? 
Or did we already talk...? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  00:27 
No.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:27 
Nothing? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  00:29 
We did not talk about it, nor did-- you mean as growing up?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  00:33 
No, we had none. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:33 
Yeah. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:34 
Nothing at all [laughs]?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  00:35 
Nothing at--  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:38 
[Crosstalk] girl talking?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  00:39 
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Oh, yeah, the regular, um, [inaudible]-- the girls' locker room kind of talk [inaudible], you know. 
In those days, the big, fat rumor and scandal was a shotgun wedding, you know? And there 
might have been one or two in the community, not necessarily my classmates, but that, of course, 
stimulated the conversations to sex education, and that's about all that we had as far as that was 
concerned.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:19 
Okay, you worked for Hudson Motors, United Airlines, and you also did some part-time 
modeling. Oh, do you remember approximately how much you got paid at Hudson Motors? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  01:34 
Oh, Lord. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:35 
Just a rough idea? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  01:36 
Rough idea. Probably around $200 a month. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:41 
And at United?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  01:43 
I started at $175. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:45 
Though you actually wound up taking [?a cut?] [inaudible] [laughs]. 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  01:48 
Oh, yeah, I did [inaudible]. I did [?take a cut?].  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:48 
But that's what you wanted to do.  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  01:52 
That's what I wanted to do.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:54 
Okay, and on the modeling?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  01:56 
Oh, that was by the hour, and that, probably in those days, probably $2.50-3.00 an hour, which is 
a lot of money then.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:05 
And this was mainly clothes modeling?  
Page 3 of 13 
 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  02:08 
Yeah, retail and wholesale. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:15 
Okay, on your second pregnancy, you had some problems. Was there ever any sort of diagnosis 
precisely about what it was? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  02:25 
Yeah, it was a series of just mental harassment. My oldest son had been misdiagnosed. 
[Telephone rings.] [Tape cuts.]  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:42 
Second pregnancy?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  02:44 
Oh, my oldest child had been misdiagnosed as having leukemia, and that sort of sent me into, 
needless to say, a tailspin. And then after I got over the shock of that, then my stepfather in law, 
who was just a dear, dear man, passed away, and that-- and it was a terrible shock and a terrible 
blow, because he was, relatively speaking, a young man. And then, oh, let's see, something else 
happened. Gosh, I can't remember right offhand. [Inaudible.] Oh, and then my sister got married, 
ran away and got married, and Mother was in a nervous tizzy. So all of these things combined, 
plus just an abnormal pregnancy to begin with. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  03:44 
Okay, and you started working in Clipped Wings about '63? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  03:50 
No, no, I joined Clipped Wings in '53.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  03:54 
Oh, '53. 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  03:55 
Just as soon as we moved to Seattle.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  03:56 
Okay. Is there any particular-- particularly memorable people, either among the ex-stewardesses 
or among the kids you worked with stands out in your mind? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  04:09 
Girls I flew with? Oh, there were several super wonderful girls. Gosh, I'd have to go back to my 
log to remember all their names. And girls I went through stewardess school with. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  04:24 
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Yeah, well, not necessarily that, but I mean women that I'm thinking that you met through 
Clipped Wings here [crosstalk]. 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  04:30 
Oh, I see. Oh, yes, our membership is right now dropped down to around 90 from 100 and 
something. And there are a lot of girls who are members at large who are not active in working 
with the mentally returned, which is our national project. But oh, gosh, I could go down the 
roster and give you names and faces that are absolutely outstanding girls. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  05:02 
How about among the people, the mentally retarded, that you work with? Anybody of note?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  05:07 
Well, in the onset of Clipped Wings and starting with mentally retarded, we worked more 
directly with the children at Buckley. Now, with all the problems that the institutions are having, 
we don't work that closely with them. We still have parties at the various group homes in Seattle, 
and we put on Christmas dinners and Thanksgiving dinners and Easter dinners and that sort of 
thing for them, but our main basis in Clipped Wings is to make money for research as to why and 
how this can, if it can, be prevented, and how trainable some of these youngsters are. And this is 
the, really, the main cause that our money goes to. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  05:58 
You done any drama since you left school? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  06:03 
No. Oh, just an occasional floor show, if you can call that drama, for just-- at one of our Clipped 
Wings functions. And the auctioneering and auction-- at our auction. And that's just about the 
extent. No, I didn't pursue that much beyond what I had already done.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  06:19 
Oh, [inaudible] back, you mentioned some-- it was your mother or grandmother was caught 
smuggling in...?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  06:30 
Oh, in World War I. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  06:32 
How did they smuggle the food, exactly? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  06:35 
She had-- of course, today I'm sure any agency wouldn't think it was too clever, but in those 
days, they had pockets. They wore long dresses, you know -- and particularly the older women in 
the family -- and she had pockets in her hems, in the hems of, say, two or three skirts that she 
was wearing, some larger than others, some about the size of a egg carton. And she could-- I'd 
walk very gingerly after you'd stolen two or three dozen eggs and bread and that sort of thing, 
and they just slipped into the pockets of those skirts. 
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Susan Lynn Ehlers  07:20 
All your kids were growing up and going to school and whatnot. Did you have any discussions, 
debates, arguments with them about their friends or their schoolmates? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  07:32 
I was very fortunate -- and probably it's the environment -- but all of the boys' friends were, 
again, in the athletic field and in athletic endeavors, and so they were all a super bunch of clean-
cut young men. And when we moved to this house from the other house -- their grade school 
friends they didn't see as much as their high school friends, and consequently, when they moved 
to-- gone on to college, then they saw more of their college friends -- but having the lake in front 
of us, this was more or less a campground for swimming in the summer. If I had a dime for 
peanut butter sandwich I made or tuna fish sandwich, I'd be a wealthy woman, but they were all 
just devil-may-care attitude, and yet a lot of fun, but not, you know, no-- we really never had a 
problem with the boys. There were no drugs. Oh, there was occasional kegger and a beer bust for 
somebody, but on the whole, no, we didn't argue about [inaudible]. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:45 
How about their school? Either, I take it, they went to the local public schools around here? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  08:50 
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:51 
Okay, well, any arguments about, you know, that they were doing-- weren't doing well, or 
something like that [crosstalk]? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  09:00 
Well, as each individual boy grew up, the oldest enjoyed studying, enjoyed reading, and in 
addition to his athletic endeavors. [Telephone rings] [sighs] [tape cuts]. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  09:16 
Okay, oh, about your kids getting along at school?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  09:19 
Oh, not to say that they didn't try to slide by when slide by was easier than work, but Michael 
was dyslectic, and we picked that up when he was in grade school, and so his problems were a 
little more emphasized, probably. And he would not enjoy the prospect of going to school like 
the other two did, though he liked all the lunches and recesses. The actual studying part left a 
great deal to be desired. But we'd get into, at dinner, we'd get into discussions on politics. My 
husband was a staunch Republican, and that the normal family discussions on politics. And of 
course, always, what-- no matter what we started out discussing, be it even the environment, we 
ended up back in sports. Always, as to who was better and why... Not individually, what team 
was better and why. And so the whole family [inaudible] geared around sports, 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  10:40 
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And also then much discussion about what their choice of careers was? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  10:46 
Um, the-- yes. My oldest wanted to go into law and showed a great desire for that. And 
ironically, not one of the boys, not one of the three, had the slightest interest in their father's 
business, [inaudible] clothing. And they all said, "No way, that's gotta be... That's ridiculous." 
"Because," they said, "at 50, you're still working." And they, of course, at 50, were going to be 
ensconced in some gorgeous home having made their millions and their fortunes and retired. 
Well, now the proof is in the pudding, and I don't think that's in the horizon. But David wanted 
law. Steven, of course, went to Pepperdine on a basketball scholarship, so that was inevitable 
that he would end up in sports. So he did try other fields, and so he's now teaching and coaching 
and seems to be very happy with that. Michael, on the other hand, is still sort of finding himself 
as to what he really wants to do at 24 years old. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  12:05 
Okay, but there wasn't too much in way of great, big, hairy old drag out [crosstalk]?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  12:14 
Oh no, no, no. All we kept saying... At one point, Michael showed a great deal of interest in 
flying. And I thought, finally, you know, if someone's going to show some interest in it, but 
unfortunately, to be a pilot or anything of that nature, the glamor is soon gone when you find that 
the degree you have to have in engineering and all of the math that it would require left him out, 
[?left the outside?], he didn't pursue that. No, no dragged out, no. The only thing I said, and we 
felt all along that was important, is if you're not doing your job you're happy with, it makes a 
terribly long day. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  12:58 
Okay, you were doing part time modeling when the kids were young, how long did you keep on 
with that? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  13:08 
Let's see. I started that in Saint Paul, really in college, and then I did small amount in 
[?Minnesota?]. Then after David was born in Michigan when we opened our first store and I 
wasn't working there, then I did it in Michigan, and then I came out here and worked the smaller 
stores in their fashion shows. I didn't-- I was really more interested in that point, and in between 
pregnancies, it's a little difficult [laughs]. So I was really interested then, and my husband got 
very vocal about the fact that he wanted me home raising the children. So I didn't really pursue it 
that that strongly when--  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  13:59 
It was in the mid-50s, that was about the time? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  14:02 
Yeah. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  14:06 
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So it was because of your husband's insistence, namely, that you stopped?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  14:10 
Right.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  14:11 
You feel much resentment about that?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  14:13 
No. I was-- I enjoyed the boys, and I said then, and I say, still, now, I did not want to be a 
liberated woman. I liked having doors opened for me. I liked my role as a homemaker, and I 
liked my husband's role as to making money and I take care of spending it. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  14:39 
Did he wind up having to do any of the housework or anything like that while-- because of your 
modeling or anything that you [crosstalk]? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  14:48 
Oh, no, no, no. And he was excellent with the boys, but of the old firm belief that Mother's job 
was Mother's job and Father's job was his job. We discussed business. I'm not intimating that we 
weren't-- we didn't discuss our problems and-- in keeping the house and doing all the things that 
the boys had to have done for them -- and transportation being one of them -- but -- and I had 
help to get through all this -- but... No, he firmly believed that he wanted me at home raising the 
boys. So the help I had was cleaning and that sort of thing. But he was always great with bathing 
them when they were babies and taking care of them and going on special outings and that sort 
of thing. But no, he didn't-- really not want me to work at all.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  15:45 
So when the kids weren't in school, they were mainly with you, or else playing with their friends 
[inaudible]? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  15:53 
Mm-hmm.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  15:53 
But you had the main charge of them?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  15:55 
Oh, indeed. And at that point, too, my husband traveled a great deal. So he would be gone from 
Sunday night or Monday morning up till Friday. So, yes, it was mine. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  16:13 
Okay, you said you moved from one house to, I take it, you mean this one? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  16:19 
Mm-hmm. 
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Susan Lynn Ehlers  16:21 
Well, where was that other one?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  16:22 
Well, we-- when we originally moved to Seattle, we lived in Shorewood. Everybody that-- that's 
the melting pot, that and Madison Park, as I understand, that-- the apartments down there. So we 
moved there and lived there for three years, and then... This was a small, two-bedroom apartment 
and we had two boys. And I hated leaving Shorewood because everybody was pretty much in the 
same boat. We'd all come to Seattle from somewhere else. We were all with larger firms. And it 
was really, truly one of the happiest times I spent in Seattle. And adjusting-- it made the 
adjustment to the weather, the climate and everything just superb, because there were people 
from all over there [inaudible]. Then we bought a small house up on 72nd street with a partial 
view. And then-- in 1964, and that was a very small house, and we had, by then, Michael, so we 
had three boys. And so 1964 we built this house.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  17:29 
Did you have much in designing it, or anything?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  17:32 
We worked with an architect. We designed exactly what we wanted. I had looked for other 
houses, and it seemed like if I liked the kitchen, I hated the living room or the bedroom or vice 
versa. So finally, after much deliberation, we found this property, and we found an architect that 
we liked, and went to look at some of the homes he'd designed, and I took the-- probably the 
better of all the houses. I took this kitchen from a house I remember going through. I took the 
living room from another house. And so with an architect, we were-- my husband said that all he 
wanted was basically my design, because, "After all," he said, "you're going to work it." And all 
he wanted was a refrigerator that made ice cubes and a putting green. "Other than that, do 
whatever the hell you damn please," but that was it. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:30 
You have any-- you said you had political discussions and such alike. Do you ever much 
involved any sort of political organizations?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  18:39 
No, all our discussions were kept right here. And as I say, my husband was a staunch 
Republican. Could not believe how anybody in their right mind was not, and it wasn't really 
discussion. It was more of a speech. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:56 
Besides Clipped Wings, any other sort of clubs, activities, PTA, whatever [crosstalk]? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  19:04 
Oh, yes, the room mother and PTA.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  19:09 
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Oh, room mother?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  19:10 
Well, you know, every one of the boys always raised their hands and said, "Mother will be the 
room mother," and that's for special holidays. Valentine cookies and having to call all the 
mothers to do all this. We coached Little League. Oh, the boys were in Pee-wee football, you 
name it, and we were involved. And so really, in their growing stages, the only thing I had time 
for was Clipped Wings, because that demanded a lot of time. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  19:46 
So most of the things you were involved in was stuff for your kids? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  19:51 
In their growing stages. But I always kept time for Clipped Wings, because I really felt that it 
was a sensational group. I was delighted to do anything I can. I was blessed with three normal, 
quote, quote, children. And when you see the devastating facts of mentally retarded children, 
it's... You then begin to count your blessings. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  20:20 
Okay, I believe you said your husband died a couple of years ago. 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  20:23 
Five years ago. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  20:25 
Five years ago, okay. And if I ask you a few questions about that-- 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  20:29 
Mm-mm.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  20:29 
--starting off with what did he die, and--? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  20:33 
He died of cancer of the pancreas. He was diagnosed as overworked, and he really had a small 
seizure in November. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  20:50 
You mean a convulsion [inaudible]?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  20:51 
No, just a seizure in that he just tightened up and blacked out. And this was on a Friday night on 
Jackson and Boren or something, [inaudible] wonderful [inaudible]. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  21:05 
[Inaudible] was driving a car? 
Page 10 of 13 
 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  21:07 
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. And it only lasted just maybe two or three minutes, but they took him to 
the hos-- to Harborview, and then called us, and we went down, and he said he felt just fine. Just 
could not understand. And so he had several physicals, and he was on the stress-- heart stress 
program at the University of Washington, and he passed that in October, and this was just before 
[inaudible]. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  21:40 
He hadn't any heart problems before-- 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  21:41 
Never.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  21:41 
--but it was just the trying to keep healthy? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  21:41 
No, well, he-- for insurance purposes he had to do this heart stress thing, he and his partner.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  21:47 
And then he-- they had passed. 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  21:48 
Oh, yeah, yeah, no problem there. And there was no-- really, there was no history of any heart 
problems in his entire family. As a matter of fact, his mother lived to be 96. And then in 
December, he went down to California to see our middle son play ball and also combining it with 
a business trip. They did suggest he not drive any longer until they could-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  22:16 
You mean at the hospital? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  22:17 
Yeah, until they could really come up with some answers as to what this was, but no one ever 
does what they're told. And so he [?ran the?] car and had another seizure on the Pacific Coast 
Highway in California. And my son called me because they'd taken him to a hospital there. And 
so then they brought him back and put him in the hos-- in Swedish here, and again, through 
many scan-- CAT scans and all kinds of... They just could not come up with what this was. And 
in the meantime, his father had died of a cerebral hemorrhage. And this, I knew, was a worry to 
him, and it was a worry to me, but his doctors then said, "I think what you really need is a long 
rest," because he had been President of the firm for several years and just worked day and night. 
So we went to Palm Springs for about six weeks, and -- right after Christmas -- and we got home 
on January 28 and he went into the hospital for extensive checks, and was told about the middle 
of February that it was terminal cancer, and he just refused all life-sustaining-- all life support 
systems and died April 4. 
 
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Susan Lynn Ehlers  23:39 
How did you feel when you found out about the diagnosis? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  23:43 
Well, I guess, like everybody, first, I said it was a mistake and total disbelief. "There had to be. 
There was no-- they had no basis to say this," though we had what, seven or eight consulting 
doctors. And then, I think, after the disbelief, it's anger. Total. I was very, very angry with him, 
as well as society and everybody around me. And so then he said a-- we had a will and 
everything. Because of business, we had to keep this will updated. But he said afterwards he was 
told that we had several things to straighten out as far as what I was to do and how I was to 
proceed on with the boys, and once I got over... I don't know where, Susan, the anger stopped 
and the bitterness set in, but there are several stages that you go through that you don't really 
understand until you've been there, and-- particularly being a young, vital man as he was. Then 
we just watched him gradually go downhill. And it was a very-- pan-- this particular type of 
cancer, coupled with the fact that he would have nothing to do with any kind of treatment or any-
- anything that would-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  25:13 
There's no anti-cancer drugs, the maybe pain-killing drugs [crosstalk]--?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  25:16 
That's all, yeah, morphine is all that gave him towards the end. But as you see, from February to 
April 4... Was about February 21. Yeah, because he had a birthday party for me in the hospital 
early part of February. We were told about the 21st. And then he just refused everything. And he 
just... Though he worked all-- through all of February in the hospital. His secretary came in every 
day and business as usual. But once he was told, after he set all of his things in order for the 
business and then he worked on our own personal things -- and there weren't that many things to 
do, really. We talked a great deal about how I should proceed with the boys and what he would 
like them to do, and he talked to them individually. And after that, my son was married May 1. 
They had been engaged for some time, and he insisted that that go on, which, as I look back on 
in retrospect, there would be no reason not to. Everything was kind of numb for me. I really sort 
of moved through time and space for about a year. And when someone-- when something is that 
sudden and that quickly, my attorney advised me not to do anything for a year, at least. And as I 
look back now, it was the smartest thing, best advice I could have had. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  27:01 
Okay, um, what had-- to whom did you turn for any sort of help [inaudible]? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  27:08 
Well, his partner was a great source of help, and our attorney was, and I-- he had several male 
friends who were also in business. And really, he had everything set up for me so that I didn't 
need a great deal of help. I needed probably a shoulder to lean on occasionally, and I had several 
girlfriends who fulfilled that for me, and several of his golfing partners or business acquaintances 
and their wives were excellent. But there comes a time when you have to regroup yourself and 
just start out and know that this is your program and you have to carry it. 
 
Page 12 of 13 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  27:54 
Okay, so your financial situation wasn't too drastic--  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  27:58 
No. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  27:58 
--but the emotional situation was?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  28:02 
Terrible, absolutely devastating, really. But-- and I would say, after about two years, I finally 
started coming out of it. Looking back now, I cannot believe I even survived. I was just sure I 
wouldn't. I wasn't suicidal or anything, but I just kept thinking, "I just can't go." And the things, I 
think, you miss most are the sharing in that 5:00 to 7:00 period when everybody else in the 
neighborhood is coming home from work, that's a bitter, bitter experience. But then gradu--  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  28:25 
You mean, you'd watch the other husbands come home and [inaudible]? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  28:39 
Yeah, not with envy or anything, but just a lonely pit feeling like, "Oh, there will not be this 
again." And the sharing, I think, is the... Just happens-- happening during the day that you think, 
"Oh, I can't wait to tell so-and-so," or, "Can't wait to tell [inaudible]." But now, looking back 
now, I realized that I was just in a cloud, a fog. Nothing meant anything. So it took me a good 
two years, but the boys were absolutely sensational. They just couldn't have been better 
[inaudible]. They were here when I needed them, and yet they didn't smother me. And I just said, 
"Look, you gotta do it." 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  29:32 
Did you start dating again? 
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  29:35 
Oh, I did, and I didn't, and it just-- there was just no interest, and there was always that 
comparison, and I didn't feel it was fair to anybody that I went out with or myself. I'd just come 
home and think, "It's just not working." 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  29:53 
Now, I believe one of the things that you said that you are working someplace. Where do you 
work?  
 
Jeanne Ellen Vercoutere Biehn  29:59 
Well, I started wor-- well, you know, the old cliché, Mother was on the phone all the time 
because of the old-- in old-- in her case, when my father died, Mother had a very small home. 
They had gone from their business and built a small home and retired to that. So Mother stayed 
in her house, but then she sold her home and moved into a small apartment. At her age, of 
course, she didn't work. But for a woman at my age, I was only 47 when my husband died. The 
Page 13 of 13 
 
thing to do was sell your house and find a job. Well, I just-- at 47 I just found by the time I can-- 
I just did not want to think of that. 
 