Jean E. Babb OBITUARY

Jean E. Babb OBITUARY

Jean E. Babb, a longtime resident of Belvidere and Boone County IL, died peacefully on July 1, 2026, in Cherry Hill NJ. She was 97.

The youngest child of Frederick “Fred” Rieke and Edith Hager Rieke, Jean graduated from Barrington High School. There she met the late David R. Babb, who would become her husband of more than 43 years. Jean earned a B.S. from Iowa State and an M.S. from University of Minnesota, focusing on textiles. Fiber arts remained a lifelong passion.

Jean worked in the textile testing lab of Sears Roebuck in Chicago before marrying. Later she became a skilled weaver, taught weaving through Rock River Valley College’s adult extension program, and demonstrated traditional spinning and dyeing at Boone County Conservation District’s Pioneer Days, as well as being an active member of weaving organizations, including the Ken-Rock and Woodstock Weavers Guilds.

Dedicated to community and family, Jean was a Board member and President of the Rock River Valley Council of Girl Scouts and a leader to several Belvidere troops. She served on the Belvidere Community Unit School District 100 School Board, and performed volunteer clerical, library, and treasurer duties for many organizations. In her seventies, she became an employee of the Ida Public Library in Belvidere.

A devoted wife and conscientious mother, Jean self-identified as a homemaker. In addition to weaving, spinning, and dyeing, she enjoyed knitting, sewing, baking, reading, music, caring for her pets, tending her garden, and educational travel. Her warmth, kindness, intelligence, and quietly curious mind will be remembered always by her family and friends.

Jean is survived by her loving children, Susan (Dennis), John (Jenn) and James (Rebecca); her grandchildren, Meghan (James), David, Daniel, Simon and Amelia; great-grandchild, Tanner; and nieces and nephews. Jean is predeceased by her husband, the Honorable David R. Babb, her siblings, Foster, Lola, and James Rieke and her grandson, Gregory.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in memory of Jean E. Babb be made to Complex Weavers Manuscript Recovery Fund, https://www.complex-weavers.org/donate-to-cw/ or to Girl Scouts of Northern Illinois (GSNI) for use in support of Camp McCormick property and programs, mailing address 353 Randall Road, South Elgin IL 60077 or online at https://www.girlscoutsni.org/en/get-involved/Support-Us/ways-to-donate.html.

Services will be private at the request of the family.