Loving wife, mother and grandmother who had a love for music and dancing
BEVERLY — Jean A. (Delorey) Bittner, formerly Jean A. Lynch, 92, of Beverly, formerly Winter Haven, Fla. and North Reading, passed away peacefully on June 25, 2022.
Jean was born on May 8, 1930 to Agnes (Hamilton) and Peter Delorey and was raised in Medford. Jean was a loving and devoted wife, proud and loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and a friend to many throughout her life.
Jeans working career started as a teenager at Filene’s Department Store in Boston. She later became a secretary at both Goldthwaite Medical Supplies and then John Hancock. Once her children were in school, Jean began volunteering in the library at Maria J. Murphy Elementary School in North Reading until she was hired by the North Reading School Department of Pupil Personnel Services, from which she retired from in 1988.
Jean embraced the roles of statistician for the little league, brownie troupe leader, family camping coordinator and later as a volunteer In a Bereavement Ministry. She shared her time with close neighborhood friends’ playing cards when the children were younger which continued on for years later as they retired together in Florida.
Jean enjoyed travel and visited many US National Parks and attractions and cruised to Alaska and Greece.
Jean would often be found with her head buried in a crossword puzzle book or cross sums book (which were always done in pen!) and it was a running joke that she always cheated at any and all card and board games because she always won!
But it was Jean’s love of music and dancing that kept her spirit going. In their younger years, both Jean and her first husband Bob would perform in local cabaret shows and would often clear the floor when they danced. She would then go on to enjoy playing and writing music on the piano with her second husband, Len, whom she met square dancing. Jean found peace in her later years by joining an organ group that would perform during the Christmas holiday in local Florida malls. And she was playing the organ right up until several months before her passing. Music brought Jean to life and you would find her tapping out the beat, or dancing down the hallway behind her walker, whenever a familiar song was played.
Jean is preceded in death by her first husband Robert (Bob) Lynch; her parents and brother, Peter Delorey and his wife, Josephine; and her sister-in-law Evangeline (Vangie) Pavitt and her husband Samuel; her brother-in-law John Lynch and his wife, Ellen; and her brother-in-law Joseph Lynch. She is survived by her son John Lynch and his wife, Gina, of Georgetown and their sons Corey and his wife, Danielle, of Wilmington; and Christopher and his wife, Amanda, of Raleigh, N.C. and great grandson Tristan; her daughter Barbara (Lynch) Donaldson and her husband, David, of San Jose, Calif. and their son Michael of New York, N.Y.; and her daughter Nancy (Lynch) LaMontagne of Peabody, formerly Stratford, Conn. and former husband Greg LaMontagne of Milford, Conn. and their daughters Sarah and Heather both currently residing in Georgia.
Jean is also preceded in death by her second husband, Herbert (Len) Bittner, and his daughter Shirley Tucker, and survived by Len’s children Herbert (Lee) Bittner, Michael Bittner, Jeanie (Bittner) Grant, and Tamara Bittner, and several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Jean is also survived by her loving companion these past six years, John Driscoll of Beverly, and his children Denise (Driscoll) Wyer, Jack Driscoll, Kathleen (Driscoll) DeRosa, Christine (Driscoll) Wyard, Steven Driscoll, Michael Driscoll and Kevin Driscoll.
Visiting hours will be held at the Croswell Funeral Home, 19 Bow Street, North Reading on Thursday, June 30, 2022 from 4-7 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held at St. Theresa’s Church, 63 Winter Street, North Reading on Friday, July 1, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. Interment will immediately follow at Riverside Cemetery in North Reading.
