Beverly Jean Telford

Jean was born in Ft. Pierre, South Dakota on February 8, 1932, to Stanley and Hazel Evans. As a young girl, Jean could be found riding alongside her father as they tended to livestock on the ranch. To attend high school, Jean and her sister Betty moved to a boarding house in Pierre, SD where Jean worked at the local grocery store to help support their room and board. She would later work as a cook on Corey Clark’s ranch for more than 20 ranch hands. This is where Jean honed her skills in homemaking. She not only became a meticulous housekeeper, but also became an amazing cook and baker.

Jean also loved to dance and at the tender age of 17, she met the love of her life (Gene Telford), while on a date with Gene’s cousin Pete who was playing in the band at a dance in Hayes, SD. Don’t worry, there were no hurt feelings as Pete went on to be one of her biggest fans and a lifelong friend. She later married Gene and started on a whirlwind journey of a lifetime. As the story goes, Gene asked Stanley for his daughter’s hand in marriage and Stanley’s response was, “I need to go fix some fence posts!” Undeterred, they exchanged marriage vows on October 30, 1949, at the Methodist Church in Pierre, SD.

Jean and Gene (also known as “she” Jean and “he” Gene) eventually moved out west and landed in California where they spent most of their life together. Their beginnings were meager at first going from trailer house living (while Gene worked in the oil fields) to home ownership in quick order. “She” Jean (or little red as she was often called) was recognized as the matriarch of the family and had a knack for numbers. She kept the Telford household humming without skipping a beat even during difficult and challenging times! She always made sure the bills were paid and her family including the occasional extended family member or friend was well fed and cared for even if that meant she went without. She worked several years to help support the family at Signetics (an electronics plant) in Sunnyvale, CA). She started out as an assembly line worker and would later be promoted to Line Lead and eventually to Supervisor of an all-woman crew. She was well respected and kept the line humming just as she did her family household.

Jean faithfully wrote in her dairy daily or weekly from simple everyday events to significant milestones. She was a consummate baker of bread, cinnamon rolls (or sticky buns), pies, cookies, candy, and homemade Kahlua. She taught all who wanted to learn how to make the perfect pie crust from scratch. And, as expected, she was candid in her critique and spotlighted her favorite students! 😊 Her recipes and techniques live on through many capable hands.

Jean loved to crochet and made hundreds of Afghans and gave them all away as gifts to family and friends several times over. She loved crafts and creating scrapbooks that chronicled life events. She wasn’t afraid to learn new things and embraced computers and quickly learned how to search on Google!

In addition to being an amazing homemaker, Jean was an avid gardener and had an amazing green thumb. She loved flowers of all types, but her favorites were hibiscus and orchids. Jean was also a collector of antiques and coins. Her love of southwestern design and artistic style enabled her to incorporate family heirlooms and other collectables/antiques into her household decorum giving ohmage to the Southwest and years gone by. She always recorded dates and history on each item to ensure the story lived on.

Then, there was the adventurous and fearless side of Jean. Did I mention that she wanted to race cars in the women-only Powder Puff? While that dream didn’t come to fruition, her adventurous spirit lived on. Jean would eventually learn to water ski, parasail, deep sea fish and loved to fly with Gene even while pregnant. At the age of 84, she bought a beautiful new Ruby Red Ford Mustang. She would frequently tell the story of her drag racing a motorcycle down the streets of Oakley with a big smile on her face.

Jean leaves behind her loving sister Betty Shannon of Sturges, SD, daughter, Kelly Moore and husband Jack Moore of Novato, CA, three grandchildren (Dee Pitto and husband Frank Pitto of Dixon, CA, Sean Moore and wife Jonni Moore of Esparto, CA, and Dmitry Ipotov of Rogers, AR), five great grandchildren (Kayla Holyfield and husband Casey Holyfield, Kyle Moore, Anthony Pitto, Francesca Pitto and Maxwell Pitto), three great, great grandchildren (Mason “Gene” Holyfield, McKenzie “Jean” Holyfield and Lila Moore), sisters-in-law Alice Evans of Belle Fourche, SD, Verona Evans of Rapid City, SD and Nadine Telford of Phoenix, AZ and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her mother and father, Stanley and Hazel Evans, brothers George and Robert Evans, husband, Gene Telford, son Kit Telford and granddaughter Tracy Moore.

Jean was an amazing and strong woman who provided a role model to many! She was incredibly private and fiercely independent. She was known to her family and friends as selfless and caring and took in family and friends in need without hesitation. She exemplified the meaning of family, love, honor, and truth! Life on earth was a better place because of Jean. She will be forever missed, but her legacy will live on in all those she touched along the way. Rest in peace my beloved mother!

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to the Alzheimer’s Association in memory of Beverly “Jean” Telford at www.alz.org and ask for an acknowledgement card sent to Kelly Moore @ 1406 Ignacio Blvd., Novato, CA 94949