Jean Hensley Elizabeth

Jean Hensley Elizabeth (formerly Jean Edwards), our beloved mother, passed away in Dallas, Texas, on June 10, 2015. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee to Charlotte Basel and Staley Hensley, Jean grew up in Fountain City, Tennessee where her deep love of the Smokey Mountains originated. Mom graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Elementary Education, was a Kappa Delta and President of the Baptist Student Union. After all their children were born in Knoxville, she and her former husband, Jerry Edwards, moved to Florida, whose white beaches were always close to her heart, and then to Dallas in 1964 where she made a home for her family. At the same time Mom was raising three children she earned a Master's degree in Library Science from the University of North Texas after which she worked for over twenty years at various schools including Plano Senior High, Carpenter and Bowman Middle Schools and J.J. Pearce High School.

Mom was a person of strong Christian faith exhibited by her relationship with Jesus Christ, her abiding grace and unconditional love. She shared such faith through mission trips throughout her life, teaching Sunday school and Vacation Bible School, and singing in the church choir and being a "Good Egg" at Christ United Methodist Church in Plano. Mom sponsored a Christian family in Russia allowing them to emigrate to the U.S., led a Girl Scouts troop in South Oak Cliff and studied at the Perkins School of Theology. Mom told stories to groups and at Texas storytelling conventions as herself or as a character in costume, such as Ruth from the Bible, mountain woman Aunt Ell'er and Anna Baba from Russia. She also played and taught the dulcimer and wrote songs including "Be Kind". Mom traveled throughout the world including Chile, Peru, Israel, Europe, India, Russia and Hong Kong and lived in a flat in Brighton, England for a period of time. A voracious reader, she passed her love of books on to her children and grandchildren. Jean was also a founding member of the Richardson and Plano chapters of the American Association of University Women, a leader in the drive to open Fretz Park Library and a fervent believer in women's rights.

Jean was preceded in death by her parents, her step-father, Don Siegel, and her brother Tommy, his wife, Johnnie Belle, and younger brother, Bill Hensley. She is survived by her three children, son and daughter-in-law, Chuck and Karen Edwards, daughter and son-in-law, Charlotte and Robert Patterson, son and daughter-in-law, Staley and Carol Ann Edwards, grandchildren, Ashley Campfield, Lea Edwards, Sydney Patterson, Riley Patterson, Scot Edwards, Charlie Edwards and her beloved nieces and nephews.

After a private memorial service Jean will be interred in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her family is grateful for the loving care she received from the staff at Sunrise of Hillcrest. Memorial donations may be made to Dallas Bethlehem Center or the charity of your choosing.