Pax Christi Lexington: Mass of Christian Burial for Jeanette Eileen (Levins) TeKrony on Jan. 3, 2025

Mass of Christian Burial for Jeanette Eileen (Levins) TeKrony on January 3, 2025 at Pax Christi Catholic Church in Lexington, Kentucky

Link to obituary copied below: https://www.afterall.com/obituaries/d-18910968/nicholasville-kentucky/jeanette-eileen-tekrony/december-2024

Jeanette Eileen (Levins) TeKrony passed away on December 26, 2024, with her husband of 66 years, Dennis, and many other family members by her side.

Eileen was born in Estelline, South Dakota on June 5, 1937, to the late Clarence and Mabel Levins. Eileen was raised on a farm near Brandt, South Dakota and graduated from Clear Lake (SD) High School as Valedictorian in 1955. She received her Bachelor of Science degree (RN) in Nursing in 1959 and married Dennis TeKrony that same year. She had a distinguished nursing career and applied her education across a wide range of work environments for 50 plus years. Her first position was as a Clinical Nurse at the Brookings Clinic in Brookings, South Dakota. While Dennis was in the US Army (1960-1962) she worked as a floor nurse and a Medical-Surgical Nursing instructor at Hotel Dieu Hospital in El Paso, Texas. She then became an Elementary School Health Nurse from 1962-1964 in Sturgis, South Dakota. While Dennis was in graduate school at Oregon State University from 1964-1969, she was a Public Health Nurse in Benton County Health Department in Corvallis, Oregon.

After they moved to Kentucky in 1969, she taught in the College of Nursing at the University of Kentucky for two years (1971-1973) and continued teaching as a Clinical Nursing Instructor at Midway College for 10 years. In 1984, she accepted a position at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging (UK) where she developed and taught courses for home care aides and family caregivers. She then became a Research Nurse Coordinator for Alzheimer’s Disease at Sanders Brown until she retired in 2001. After retirement, she worked part-time for the Margaret T. Stoeckinger Foundation to develop a Parish Nurse Program for 64 churches in the Catholic Diocese of Lexington for nine additional years. Her incredible career in nursing was only surpassed by herkind heart and strength of character. To categorize Eileen as the best mother, sister, daughter, grandmother, wife, and friend would be an understatement.

Besides her parents, Eileen was preceded in death by her infant brother, Patrick, her sister Jean, and brothers-in-law Carl Breckunitch and Michael Ahern. She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Dennis, daughter Anne Van Hoose (Mark), son Dr. Mark TeKrony (Laura), grandchildren Casey and David Van Hoose and Charlotte, Lindsay and Abby TeKrony, her sister Margery Ahern of Salina, Kansas, her brother Richard Levins and sister-in-law Sandy of Carmel, Indiana and many nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be held for Eileen at Pax Christi Catholic Church in Lexington, Kentucky at 11 a.m. on Friday, January 3, 2025. A Mass of Christian burial will follow the visitation beginning at 1 p.m. followed by inurnment of ashes in the Peace Garden at Pax Christi. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made either to Bluegrass Care Navigators or to the Peace Garden at Pax Christi. Condolences may be left at www.clarklegacycenter.com