Jean Pearl (Abbott) Wadleigh

Jean Pearl (Abbott) Wadleigh Jean P. Wadleigh, 74, a lifelong resident of Tilton, died Friday, December 30, 2016 at the Concord Hospital following a lengthy illness. Jean was born in the family homestead in Tilton on January 19, 1942, the daughter of the late Frank Abbott Sr. and Bessie Mae (Pearl) Abbott. She attended local schools and worked for several years at the J. P. Stevens Woolen Mill in Northfield, NH until its�closure. She later worked for a time at Webster Valve Company in Franklin, until choosing to become a homemaker and caring for her son, nieces and nephews, and other neighborhood children. Jean loved children and cared for them for years. She enjoyed the family farm and had a special passion for animals, even the cattle, nicknamed them "her girls". Jean enjoyed gardening and was often seen barefoot planting potatoes with her husband, Ben, each spring. When they began to grow and broke through the ground, she devised a way to collect the potato beetles without squishing them in her hand. In addition to her parents, Jean was predeceased by an infant son James Allen Wadleigh, who died in 1967, her brothers, Russell Drew and Frank Abbott Jr, and sisters, Marjorie Muzzey, Grace Read and Clara Chandonnait. She leaves her husband of fifty-one years, Ben Wadleigh of Tilton, her son, Roger Wadleigh, his wife, Nicole, and their daughter, Aeryn, of Rochester, her sister Marion Scott of Concord, and numerous nieces and nephews. Calling hours are planned for Saturday, February 4, 2017 from 1:00 to 3:00 P.M. at the William F. Smart Sr. Memorial Home, Franklin-Tilton Road (584 West Main St.) in Tilton. A graveside service will be held when weather permits in the spring at the family plot in Park Cemetery in Tilton. Those wishing, may make memorial contributions in Jeans name to either, the Franklin Animal Shelter, P. O. Box 265, Franklin, NH 03235-0265, or to, Central NH VNA and Hospice, 780 North Main St., Laconia, NH 03246.