Jean Deal Hanlin

Jean Deal Hanlin, a resident of Signal Mountain, passed away on Thursday, January 14, 2016. She was age ninety-two years and one day. She was born in Columbia, Tennessee, in 1924. She attended David Lipscomb College and the George Peabody College for Teachers. She then received a Masters’ Degree in piano performance from the University of Michigan.

When asked what her obituary should say, Jean replied, “It should say I was a music teacher and a damn good one.” Indeed she was. She moved to Chattanooga in 1951 and taught at Brainerd Junior High School, Brainerd Senior High, East Brainerd Elementary, and the Girls’ Preparatory School. She retired from teaching after seventeen years at GPS.

She married H. Carey Hanlin in 1951, and they were married for forty-nine years. Jean was instrumental in Carey’s rise in the corporate world as he became chairman of the Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company, and then founding chairman of the Tennessee Aquarium. After Carey was paralyzed in an auto accident in 1991, Jean became his primary caregiver, a role she fulfilled with astonishing dedication and love.

She was always active in the arts. She was a board member of the Chattanooga Theater Center, and a member of the Chattanooga Music Club. In 2005, she was elected to the Bill Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. In her later years, Jean was able to indulge her enjoyment of travel, shopping, pinot grigio, and caring for stray cats.

Even when she was bedridden, Jean never lost her high spirits. At age ninety-one she was heard to remark that she wanted to buy a new car, a bright red one, and then drive it “a hundred and fifty miles an hour, just so people will whistle at me.” Her friends in heaven are whistling now.

Jean was preceded in death by her husband H. Carey Hanlin, her brother John W. Deal, and her sister Juanita Deal Madden. She is survived by her two sons, Chris and Tim Hanlin, her daughter-in-law Maria Davis Hanlin, and her three grandchildren, Anna Hanlin Kohler, Brittany Hanlin, and Carey Hanlin.

Visitation will be 2 to 3 PM on Sunday, January 17, 2016 at the funeral home. Funeral Service will follow at 3 PM at the funeral home.

Burial will follow at Hamilton Memorial Garden, Hixson, TN.

Memorial donations may be made to the Tennessee Aquarium.

Arrangements are by the North Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory, and Florist. 5401 Highway 153, Hixson, TN.