Jeanne Aeby

Jeanne Aeby, 93, La Mesilla, died Sunday, October 9, 2022.

Jeanne was born May 17, 1929 in Aurora, Illinois, to Louis & Margaret Clemens. She grew up in Naperville, IL, where summers would be spent detasseling corn & picking strawberries to earn money for college. She graduated from National Teacher’s College in 1951 and first demonstrated the deep pioneering spirit that would define her life, by moving to Los Alamos, New Mexico, to teach children of the National Laboratory staff, at Aspen School.

She met Jack Aeby in Los Alamos  and they married in 1952. They had 5 children. The family moved to the Espanola Valley in 1959, where Mrs. Aeby  taught at Holy Cross School and later, Fairview Elementary. She was well known for an innovative and progressive teaching style that involved  an “open classroom” concept where well ahead of her time, her students were encouraged to learn at their own pace and pursue projects like making movies and hunting for dinosaur bones.  She introduced her students to computers, international foods and cultures. She could frequently be found  singing and playing folk songs for them on her guitar. She retired in 1990, after nearly four decades of innovation in the classroom, but continued with her passion for education by volunteering to teach reading and literacy to adults.

Environmental issues were paramount to Mrs. Aeby - before it was cool. She was a founding member of the New Mexico Citizens for Clean Air and Water.  She fought tirelessly to improve the air quality in Northern New Mexico. It brought her joy to hear that the San Juan Power Plant ceased burning coal the week before her death.

Jeanne loved fiber arts and was an avid quilter. She would often attend International Quilt Festivals in Houston and Paducah  and had one of her appliqué quilts shown at the Texas festival  in 1990. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Espanola, reaped the benefits of her sewing for altar coverings & fair linens. She knit beanies for cancer patients, hats for Seafarers and “Knitted Knockers” for mastectomy patients. She was instrumental in establishing a  group of volunteers sewing costumes for the Santa Fe Opera.  She also volunteered with the St. Martin de Pores Soup Kitchen.

She moved to Hawaii, to be closer to her first two grandchildren, and lived for many years in Honolulu.  There she continued her tireless giving to the community through volunteering at the Bishop Museum and her second church home, St. Andrews Episcopal Cathedral.

She is survived by two brothers, four children, 6 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.  She was proceeded in death by her spouse, Jack, her daughter, Margaret, and her brother, Jack Clemens.

A Celebration of Life for family was to be held on October 15, 2022, at St. Stephens Episcopal Church in Espanola.