I met an icon this week, the Matriarch of Churchill County - and what a treat that was. Jean Workman, beloved Fallon matriarch, celebrated her 100th birthday on February 17th.
Making her debut as Jean Marie Rawson in Alhambra, California, in 1921, Jean was born to Russell and Matilda Fishback Rawson.
According to Jean, one of her earliest memories as a little girl was moving to Rosemead, California, where she grew up. Jean did all her chores alone as an only child and recalled, “I had no siblings to play with or get into trouble with.” However, that was remedied when she was in high school and met a boy named Rex Workman.
“I was very shy back then,” Jean said, “And a lot of the schoolgirls liked Rex, but he liked me.” Before long, Jean and the popular football player were high school sweethearts. Jean and Rex dated through his football days in junior college and during his years at the University of Idaho, where he earned a football scholarship. They were still together on that fateful day, December 7th, 1941.
If that date sounds familiar, it should. Pearl Harbor was bombed at 8 AM that day, and all hell broke loose. Immediately after, Rex left school and joined the Army Air Corp. In June of 1942, as soon as he finished basic training, Rex and Jean were married. And then, four days later, he was gone to fight in WWII.
Before moving to Fallon, the couple lived in Tacoma, Washington, although Jean moved back to Rosemead with her parents while Rex was deployed in the South Pacific. It was there her daughter Lani was born. Jean and Rex had three children, two of whom are a big part of her life; Dave and Lani (Workman) Peel. Rex and Jean’s third child, Timothy, passed away when he was only about nine months old.
After Rex returned, the couple moved to South Carolina, where Jean became a local grammar school secretary. It was 1957 when Jean and Rex moved to the Fallon farm, where Jean still lives today. Rex’s mother and his older brother lived in Fallon, bringing them here, though Jean recalls she didn’t really want to move to Fallon.
“We had just decorated and painted the house up there in Rosemead,” Jean said. “And, my parents were still living there.” But she branched out on her own to be with her true love in Fallon. Dave said, “They came up here in 1957 and turned this piece of desert into a farm.”
“The original house on the property was built from railroad ties and had only 7-foot ceilings,” said Jean, “a tiny little place.” And it was there that she spent her time; raising a family and working the farm. Jean also taught Sunday School for 35 years while juggling family, farm chores, and a host of other things. According to Jean, Lani was always there to help on the farm and produce stand. The family worked the fields together, raising vegetables and cantaloupes - lots of sweet, delicious Workman cantaloupe that they sold the corner of Soda Lake Road and the Reno Highway.
Jean and her family said Rex always wanted to be a farmer. “He got bit by the farming bug,” Dave explained. “Farming was prevalent in the Los Angeles area before the war - not people and housing.” So, while Rex was in the military, he saved all of his extra flight and hazard-duty pay to buy some ground. By the time he was through, they had saved about $8,000. To Rex’s dismay, the property he had his heart set on had in had gone up in price to $10,000. Six years later, it was up over $30,000. Rex didn’t think the pricing increases would last, so he decided to wait. But the property values just kept going up due to the housing boom.
Most families were looking for housing at the time, and not farmland, and costs kept rising. Rex worked in construction for a few years, installing hardwood floors in the new homes. He even installed the hardwood floors that are still in Jean’s home today.
Jean’s hands were always busy, helping at the church, knitting, crocheting, cooking, baking, or painting. Lani said, “She attends bible studies and has been a great encouragement and inspiration to others in their spiritual lives.” Lani also told me about when Jean used to cook with her at the Apple Tree Restaurant. Also a fantastic artist, Jean loves to paint and showed off some exquisite work. She showed me one of her rose paintings, framed and hanging in her living room – it’s just beautiful. She has an expert hand at cake decorating, too, creating many, many wedding cakes over the years - one of which was five tiers tall.
Louise, Jean’s daughter-in-law, shared a memory with us about her and Dave’s 50th-anniversary party. “Jean was the star of the show with the cake she made for the event. She had notes on all of the ingredients and costs. It looked like something made for the King of England!” said Louise, “It had 3-dimensional sculptures and roses made from frosting and meringue.”
The family shared wonderful memories of Jean baking in the little house, and she would have to arrange all of the cake pieces in the back of the old International truck to deliver them. She would then have to drive over all of the farm bumps and ruts just to get off the property to deliver her spectacular creations, which she would assemble once she got to the destination. According to the family, “There was one cake that she made that was so tall, once she assembled it, it almost fell over. that one ha to be cut a little early to keep it from falling over.
Dave and Louise also met in high school, like Jean and Rex. Louise recalls meeting Jean for the first time. “Dave brought me home after school, and his mom wasn’t in the house. So Dave went outside the little house’s back door and started calling for Jean. When she appeared, she was wearing irrigating boots covered with cement. She had been helping Rex put in irrigation boxes! That was my first impression of Jean. She worked on the farm and did whatever Rex needed her to do.” We teased Jean a little bit about being a strong lady. When asked about having a lot of muscles, Jean said, “I think I did!” She must have because it took a lot to run a farm in those days, especially without the benefit of modern farm equipment.
When asked about her fondest memory of Fallon is, Jean said, “When we moved into this house – it was a mansion compared to the little railroad-ties house.” They moved into the current house just before Christmas in 1973, a beautiful Christmas gift.
Jean lost her high school sweetheart in 2003 after being married for 62 years. They shared so much together in those years, raising a beautiful family and making a name for themselves in this valley. Rex holds a most special place in her heart, and she still looks at his pictures with much love and longing in her eyes.
This 100 years old lady is still pretty sharp, managing her own finances up until a couple of years ago when Dave took them over for her. Dave said, “She maintained her records with a wonderful clarity of memory.’’ She had a strong body and a strong mind for many years. “A joyful mind, a happy mind” is how her children refer to her. A warm happiness can be seen in the faces of those in the many family photos - photos that reflect a deep family bond and generations full of love.
Besides her two children, Jean also has six grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren, and eight great-great-grandchildren. Of the five generations, most everyone lives in the area, including all of the great-greats. The rest of the family is also fairly close by, most residing in northern Nevada, with a few now in California. Most of the family attended her 99th birthday party last year, but due to COVID, only a few family members will be with her this year.
Dale White, one of the church leaders at Parkside Bible Fellowship, told The Fallon Post, “Jean is a great lady. She taught Sunday School at the church for 35 years and volunteered there in other capacities as well.” Dale is the one who suggested a human interest story about Jean, and he’s the one who came up with the title for this story, much to the delight and appreciation of Jean’s family. She loves having her family around her, which makes every day very special for her.
In honor of her birthday, 100 Greenwave-green balloons were delivered to her home on Wednesday, the 17th. Ed Louie from Louie's Home Center donated half of the balloons, and Parkside Bible Fellowship donated the other half. They were picked up and delivered to Jean by Dale, his wife Gail, Ron Ward, and Jack Beach. Jean is officially a Centenarian, part of the “greatest generation.” She has seen so much in those 100 years - Prohibition, the stock market crash, too many wars. Through all of that, she’s been extremely healthy all of her life – no surgeries ever – further proof of her enduring strength.
Through the writing of this story, I was fortunate to meet Dave and Lani, along with Dave’s wife Louise and Lani’s daughter Tami Peel. Together with Jean, they helped weave together this story of the tapestry of an amazing woman’s life. And what an amazing woman she is. Happy Birthday to Jean Workman - mother, matriarch, and much loved.
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