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Jeannette A. Colledge
Just three weeks after fulfilling her wish of participating in the Fourth of July parade in Friday Harbor, Washington, Jeannette Alice Colledge, a Southampton resident of 60 years, died surrounded by her loved ones in Washington on Tuesday, July 26. She was 100.
Born in Westhampton, on July 2, 1911, the last of five children, her father died when she was 3 years old. Her mother Leah Robinson and her older siblings helped raise her. Ms. Colledge learned to work hard and became very resourceful. At the age of 10, her neighbor hired her to cook dinner for them every night.
She grew into an independent and competent woman with a vibrant personality and had a way of easily connecting with people. From the day her husband, Achille “Archie” Colledge met her, he never left her side. Before their marriage in 1936, Ms. Colledge worked as a masseuse for a woman who had a stroke. She traveled with her to Del Rey Beach, Florida, where Mr. Colledge soon joined her and found better job opportunities in the building trade.
When her father-in-law became ill, they moved back to Southampton, built their own home and soon had two children. Mr. Colledge became a building contractor and in 1945 they purchased a three-story whaler’s home, built around 1700, in Southampton Village. It took many years for the couple to restore the home because they did most of the work themselves.
During her years in Southampton, Ms. Colledge helped her husband create a very successful contracting business. She also took courses from Cornell University Cooperative Extension to develop the skills needed to teach 4-H girls in her community how to bake breads and pies. She most enjoyed teaching others how to become resourceful and creative and was a mentor for countless numbers of people in her community. She was always putting other people’s needs before her own, survivors said.
After 64 years of marriage, Mr. Colledge died in 2000. When Ms. Colledge was 90, she moved to Friday Harbor to be close to her daughter. She bought a new home that she remodeled to her liking. She made a lot of friends and loved talking to and meeting people everywhere she went, especially at the farmers market and the grocery store.
Ms. Colledge had a boundless, creative mind, and was a generous woman who always spoke her mind. She loved to sing and would break out in song at the drop of a hat. She knew how to live life to the fullest and touched many lives, family said. She truly made a difference in her 100 plus years on the planet and will be greatly missed.
She is survived by a daughter, Lea Andrade and her husband, Christian of Washington; daughter-in-law, Susan Colledge of Southampton; grandchildren, Jennifer of Middle Island and Jason Colledge of Southampton; and an adopted son and good friend, Jack Clay. She was predeceased by her husband, Archie, and a son, William.
on Sep 20, 2011