Jean-Marie Reynolds Stillwell

Jean-Marie Reynolds Stillwell was born Tuesday 8 July 1930 at what was Mount Holly / Burlington County Memorial Hospital (now Virtua Memorial) in Northampton (soon to be Mount Holly) Township, New Jersey – the town she called home for over 75 years.  She was the third child and the third daughter of the late Frederick Raymond Reynolds, sr. and the late Ella Pearl Wagner.  She died 31 May 2025.  

At age 8, she met a 10-year-old neighbor boy, who years later would become her husband of 65 years, Stephen Joseph Stillwell.  He predeceased her, dying on 6 November 2015.  Over the years, she and her husband lived in Mount Holly and Lumberton, New Jersey and in Oro Valley, Arizona.  She is survived by her children, Stephen J. Stillwell, jr. (Thomas L. Wilding) and Jean-Marie Huisjen; her grandsons, Frederick S. Warner (Jessica Mejias) and Stephen C. Warner (Maree Archuleta).  Additionally, she is survived by her niece, Lori-Ann Reynolds Pitts of Summerville, South Carolina, and a number in the next generations scattered around the country.

                She is also predeceased by all of her siblings and their spouses:  Laura “Wa” Van Horn Reynolds (Donald P. Hartman & Alonzo Gore), Mary-Lydia “Mimi” Reynolds (Calvin W. Davis & Russell A. “Patty” Gladfelter, jr.), Frederick “Messy” or “Sonny” Raymond Reynolds, jr. (Glenda Ann Caulkins Swanson), and George “Chubby” Carleton Reynolds, II (Ethel B. Williams & Pearl L. Woolridge Major).  As well as, by her nieces:  Valerie-Nan Reynolds, Sherrill Ann Swanson, Toni-Ann Shimano Rich, & Lisa-Marie Reynolds Mlynarski, and her nephews:  Perry Lee Swanson, Louis Charles Shimano, & Dean Alan Swanson.  She was the last of her generation of 22 cousins.  Her son-in-law, David Robert Huisjen, also pre-deceased her.

                She attended the local public schools in Mount Holly and graduated from Rancocas Valley Regional High School in 1948.   There, she was on the field hockey team with her future sister-in-law, the late Thelma Ada Stillwell Hannon Shimano. Early on, she went to work for New Jersey Bell, then part of the American Telephone & Telegraph system. She held various positions with them for some 34 years.  Night and split-shift work allowed her to tend to her family’s other needs.  Her husband was a florist working in a number of different places around southern New Jersey and in Philadelphia.  Eventually they bought their own store, Bob White Flowers, in which she worked as the financial manager after her retirement from the telephone company.  She and her husband worked diligently at the business and enjoyed the prestige of serving famous clients – most notably Elvis and Priscilla Presley.

She and her husband loved to travel, and two-week family driving vacations were the custom for many years.  Not surprisingly, they delighted in visiting botanical gardens – and made special trips to British Columbia, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico to do so.  She also, with her husband, enjoyed sites of historical significance here in this country, in Canada, in France, and in Great Britain.  One of her favorite memories was a dinner cruise on the Seine through Paris.  She visited 35 states and the District of Columbia, as well as seven of the Canadian provinces.

Back in New Jersey, she was active in Pioneers – for NJ Bell’s retirees, the Women’s League, the Hospital Auxiliary, and several bridge clubs.  She produced dozens of works of counted cross-stitch.  Discovering Facebook after her move to Arizona, she stayed in touch with many of her friends “back home” virtually.

She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Mount Holly, where she was married, and later St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of Hainesport.  After she and her husband moved to Oro Valley in the fall of 2006 to be close to their children, both of whom had settled in the Tucson area, she joined Casas Adobes Congregational Church, UCC.  She was active in a number of programs and committees at the church.  The family extends a Special Thank You to the staff at The Inn at The Fountains, Tucson, where she lived at the end of her days.  Additionally, to be thanked are the staff at Casa de la Luz Hospice for their comforting assistance.

Service information to follow.  Family flowers only.  Donations to the Music Program at Casas Adobes Congregational Church, UCC.