Jean Harper

Jean Marjorie Rodway Harper, 88, passed peacefully from her Fayetteville, PA home to her Heavenly home, Monday, January 17, 2022. Born June 4, 1933 in Cambridge, MA, she was a daughter of the late William Batchelder Stanley Rodway and Mary Macaulay Rodway. Raised in the center of Boston across from historic Trinity Church, she was a member and Valedictorian of the first class to graduate in 1950 from Boston Christian High School, now Lexington Christian Academy.
Jean was working as a Retrospective Rating Specialist, for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co, when on a February 1956 Sunday at First Baptist Church, Boston she shared a hymn book with Norman W Harper, Ensign USN. This led to a Patriots Day, April 19, 1957 engagement and a June 22, 1957 marriage following Norman’s graduation from the US Naval Submarine School in New London, CT where they subsequently lived for nine years. The last five were next to the Coast Guard Academy. This led to Cadets being in their home every Saturday evening for Bible Study and fellowship. Their children, Scott Douglas, Kari Kristine, and Keith Ronald were born there. Jean was active in the Submarine Base Chapel as she was in all the churches, they belonged to wherever they lived.
Her spouse then was assigned to the Ballistic Missile Submarine USS Casimir Pulaski, SSBN 633 home based in Charleston, SC but operating out of Rota, Spain for three months, 60 days of which were submerged patrols at the height of the Cold War. Jean, like all submariner’s wives (particularly after the loss of the Thresher and Scorpion submarines), were never sure if they would return. In 1967 when her spouse resigned from the Navy, the family moved to Maryland and lived in the Ashton and Silver Spring area for 30 years. While the children were in high school Jeanie worked part time from home as a Medical Transcriber. She was also a Head Start volunteer. When they finished high school, Jeanie resumed working full time for an accounting firm in Silver Spring. Then later she joined Norman commuting to Crystal City, Virginia where he worked for the Navy Department as an engineer. There Jean worked as an administrative assistant on a US-Saudi Naval Project and other programs gaining her computer skills.
After Norman’s retirement in 1986 they established their own company – MTAP (Maintenance Through Analysis and Planning) and developed maintenance programs for Ski Areas lifts, snowmaking, and grooming equipment. To do this it was necessary to be at the ski areas, mostly in the winter. Some of the areas were Snowshoe, WV; Mt Shasta, CA; Whistler, BC; Lake Louise, ALB; and others. Jean was President of the company with Norman the Engineer. The company was retired in 1996. In 2000 Jeanie and Norm moved to Fayetteville. They were active in Central Presbyterian Church, Chambersburg where Jean’s memorial service will be held in the future. Her urn will eventually reside in an Arlington National Cemetery Columbarium. Jean’s sister Lois Rodway predeceased her 13 August 1995. She is survived by her spouse, children and two grandchildren, Ross and Jenna Lichtenberg.
In lieu of flowers, Jean suggested donations may be made to “Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation” or “Macular Degeneration Assoc.”