Charlotte Slinkard

Charlotte Jean Scott Slinkard passed away Monday, Nov. 30, 2009, following a brief but courageous struggle with lung cancer.

She was born Nov. 23, 1925, in Chaffee, Mo., to Charles and Alma Scott.

She was the third of six children and is survived by sisters Mary Beth Garwood of Kirkwood, Mo., Margaret "Marnet" Haug of Austin, Texas, and Chuck Scott of Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Sisters Barbara Glanzy and Constance Scott preceded her in death.

Jean grew up in Chaffee and Jackson. During World War II she worked for the Navy Department in Washington, D.C.

She returned to Chaffee after the war and married Dennis Harold Slinkard of Chaffee. They had two daughters, Kathrun Sue (Kathy Velvet of Branson, Mo.) and Elizabeth Ann (Beth Gray of Olive Branch, Miss.) before moving to Cape Girardeau in 1951.

Following the move, a son, Dennis Kerry (Kerry Slinkard of Elkton, Md.), was born.

Dennis and Jean raised the family in Cape Girardeau, where he was business manager at KFVS12 television and the other holdings of Hirsch Broadcasting.

When the television station was purchased by Aflac, Dennis and Jean moved to Columbus, Ga., where Dennis served as comptroller for Aflac Corp.'s Broadcast Group. They lived in Columbus 18 years before returning to Cape Girardeau in 1988.

The cancer that claimed her life was her third battle with the disease. For 20 years, Jean was not so much a cancer survivor as a cancer conqueror. Her previous bouts with the disease were met with determination and grace: "Do what needs to be done and move on with life." For Jean, life was too interesting to waste worrying about what had happened or what might happen next. There were so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren to enjoy and so much of life to embrace.

Jean is remembered as a devoted mother and fierce defender of her family. Her letters of protest to the powers-that-be were legendary, even if most of them were never mailed.

She was self-assured, but never overbearing, and always ready to laugh at herself. She preferred to lift others up (especially her children and their families) rather than promote herself. She was intelligent and dedicated to every endeavor in life.

Jean was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Cape Girardeau, where friends are invited to visit with the family Friday from noon to 1 p.m.

A service of celebration of life for Jean will follow at 1, with interment in Cape County Memorial Park.

Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

In lieu of flowers, friends are asked to make donations to Westminster Presbyterian Church in Jean's memory.