St. Johns lost a great lady with the passing of Jeanne Rand on October 5
By Rhonda Dedyne
St. Johns lost a great lady with the passing of Jeanne Rand on October 5, although her lengthy list of community projects – many of which involved pushing, prodding and perseverance – may be unknown to area newcomers, or forgotten by others.
Anonymity can happen, even to movers-and-shakers like Jeanne.
That being said, now seems like an appropriate time to cast the spotlight back on a vibrant lady who genuinely wanted to make her hometown a better place for everyone. The word “visionary” is frequently – and often inaccurately – used in tributes by today’s pundits. Jeanne was more than a visionary – she lent her hands and heart to help accomplish the projects that her mind’s eye envisioned.
I had the good fortune of knowing Jeanne, and the pleasure of writing about the projects she helped bring to life not that many years ago – although I must admit, those stories from the 1980s and ’90s and even into the first decade of the current millennium seem to exist in another dimension. Time marches on for us all.
One of those stories is reprinted here. “Up close and personal: Jeanne Rand gets set to start a new chapter in her book of life,” was written in May 1995, upon her retirement as President for the Clinton Area Care Center Board of Trustees. Talking with Jeanne was always a true pleasure, and our conversation in her home on Oak Street for this particular story was lively, as usual, spiced with plenty of comments that did not appear in print – she was never lacking in opinions.
Several items jumped off the page at me in re-reading this piece from 17 years ago – a couple errors of omission on my part, and two things in particular because of the impact each had on my life.
Jeanne Rand and Hugh Banning were among the attendees at RAVE’s Founding Mothers banquet in 2004.
First, my mistakes. In the story I neglected to mention Jeanne’s involvement with Relief After Violent Encounter, RAVE. Specifically, her work helping Janet Holden make the initial contacts for the founding of RAVE in the early 1980s. Next, while I did cite Jeanne’s years on the St. Johns City Commission, I did not note the fact that she was the first woman to serve in that capacity – a HUGE omission on my part. One other item is an addendum to the original story: the $1,000 Jeanne Rand Scholarship is awarded each year to a CACC employee for continuing education in healthcare.
My involvement with Jeanne as a member of the Depot Committee, one of the “new chapters” in her life that was part of the story’s headline, brought back a flood of memories. It took lots of meetings – and pushing, prodding and perseverance – by the volunteer group working in conjunction with the city of St. Johns to renovate the historic Grant Trunk Depot. A grant of $325,000 received in 1999 from the State of Michigan Art, Cultural and Quality of Life was essential to the project. Renovation work began in 2001 – and Jeanne along with Depot Committee members had every reason to be pleased at the official opening of the refurbished structure a year later. The Depot has been, and will continue to be, an important part of the city’s landscape.
Finally, and perhaps most important to me, personally, are names of individuals in that 1995 story who spoke highly of Jeanne – and are no longer with us: Charlie Coletta and Mark Barber. Both of them along with Jeanne are likely working together now on some sort of project – and maybe even sparring a bit in a good-natured way; Charlie with his warm, wry smile and Mark jabbing at himself. None of the three ever took themselves too seriously – but they weren’t afraid to stand firm in the face of opposition, and they never backed away from a challenge.
Jeanne’s closing comment sums it up best, “If you never want to have people disagree with you, just don’t do anything. But, if you’re convinced that you are right – and you can qualify that – then go ahead and just do it.”
Thanks, Jeanne, for being you.
Up close and personal: Jeanne Rand gets set to start a new chapter in her book of life
After 17 years at the helm of the Clinton Area Care Center, Jeanne Rand is ready for a change of direction following her resignation as president of the CCAC Board of Trustees. She may not know how the rest of the story will unfold, but two things are certain – the plot involves local people, and it will be interesting.
“Life is made up of chapters, and when it’s time to close the book on a chapter, it’s time,” the St. Johns native says of her decision to step down from the CACC board. “Each chapter is just as important as another, and each chapter is different – the time is right for a new chapter now.”
What an important part of Clinton County history that chapter contains.
The centerpiece is Hazel Findlay Country Manor which began as a vision in Rand’s mind long before she gathered together a group of local citizens for informal meetings in the late 1970s. That vision became a reality in 1982, thanks in large measure to Rand’s bulldog tenacity.
“Jeanne was the sparkplug for building the Manor,” says Charles Coletta, who served as co-chairperson with beloved St. Johns resident Tony Kuntz for the initial fund drive. “The care center was basically her dream – she kept it going.”
Ironically, the dream originated in a previous “chapter” of Rand’s life – her restaurant, Jeanne’s Beans. “People used to come to the restaurant who had been married for many years. Then, the time came that one or the other had to go into a nursing home in Lansing or somewhere farther away,” Rand recalls. “Often, their mate wouldn’t be able to see them for a week or more at a time.
“I thought, isn’t that tragic – to spend your life with someone you love, and then not be able to see them.”
To Rand, the logical solution was the construction of a local, nursing care facility. In her trademark fashion, the businesswoman set out to do just that, even though she admits she didn’t know “anything about building a nursing home.”
As she had done previously in her venture as a restaurateur, Rand found the answers to her questions. “If you don’t know something, find the experts and get them to work with you,” she says.
And, that’s just what she did.
“We needed people with expertise in a lot of different fields – a township supervisor, city commissioner, a minister and a priest, owners of Rivard’s Nursing Home, two bankers, a county planner and someone from the county health department, and an attorney,” Rand says, recalling the makeup of the first CACC board.
“I called those people and asked them if they would be willing to work on building a nursing home – not one person refused, and in the seven years that followed, we only lost one member. To me, that’s a testament of how badly we needed a nursing home.”
While Rand labels the board as “fine,” noting that they “put their shoulders to the task of the building project,” she gives all the credit for the dream becoming a tangible structure to some equally fine people.
“It took a whole county-full of people giving of their time, energy, and money to build the Manor,” she says. Everyone got behind it, and we had some very dedicated community leaders – Tony Kuntz, Charles Coletta, Bernard Feldpausch. These men were well-known and well-loved. It was really something to watch.”
The end result was more than $1 million raised locally for the $2.6 million, 108-bed facility that debuted in a community open house 13 years ago this weekend, May 22-23.
“Every person who worked on the project played an equally important role in the Manor’s construction,” Rand says. “We wanted to do something that would be a showcase for other counties – we wanted our county to be self-sufficient.”
That spirit and feeling of community pride still plays a key role in Rand’s active life – and may provide a clue for future “chapters.”
“I feel the same way about the hospital, the library, and other aspects of the community,” Rand says. “I’d like to be a help in getting a new library; we need a bus station where people can come and go; and we need a good chamber of commerce office.”
Certainly, those are all worthy – and challenging -projects, and one fellow “dreamer” believes the fiery lady is just the person to get the ball rolling.
“Jeanne has always had the community at heart,” says St. Johns businessman Mark Barber. “She’s really a visionary – she’s always been progressive, and she’s always been concerned about making sure that things in St. Johns are done right.”
Over the years, the focus of her life may have changed – being a loving wife and mother, seven years as a St. Johns city commissioner, building and decorating homes, and operating a successful business – but the character remains intact.
“Life has been fun – I wouldn’t change a day, not even the bad,” she says.
“I’ve always said, if you never want to have people disagree with you, just don’t do anything. But, if you’re convinced that you are right – and you can qualify that – then go ahead and just do it.”