Jeanne Bartz

Jeanne Lynne Shirley Bartz, 84, of Laurel, MD passed away February 5, 2025 after a courageous fight of over 3 years with breast cancer.  She was born in 1941 in Boston, Massachusettes to Captain John B and Evelyne L Shirley.

Being the child of a Naval Officer offered her many pleasures as she lived in China and Hawaii before coming back to Washington, DC.  She excelled in sports during her High School years and eloped with her husband of 66 years, Charles H Bartz Jr, just after she graduated high school.  They spent a wonderful honeymoon in Atlantic City before settling down in the Maryland area to raise a family.  Her daughter Jeanne Lorraine was born in  1960 followed by her son Charles H, III soon thereafter.

She was lucky enough to be a housewife and mother while her children were growing up, but spent much of her time helping them out with school, and participating in community groups.  She was a wonderful seamstress and made most of her children’s school clothes, as well as suits for her husband!  Wooden cooking spoons were her tool of choice in resolving discipline problems with her offspring.

As soon as the children were independent, she started working as a distributor for the Montgomery Journal together with her sister-in-law Joyce.  At home she still sewed but branched out to quilting, which remained a lifetime hobby.  She was a wonderful cook, especially good with cookies, seafood and rarebit.

She really loved her husband Charles, as she cooked oysters in all fashions, even though she didn’t eat them.  Welsh Rarebit was often on her hubby’s menu even though she didn’t partake of that either!  She even peeled peanuts for him, immediately after she bought them, as he convinced her that having them in the shell overnight was bad luck.

She was an Arbitron TV ratings collector for years and then moved into being a front desk/scheduler for a number of doctors in the Laurel area.  When her husband finally retired, the two of them joined the Laurel Senior Center and travelled a lot with that group, as well as taking extended journeys with her daughter and son-in-law.

Jeanne was the nicest and friendliest person in the world, often, no usually, starting conversations with people she encountered during her daily business and chatting with them amiably for long enough that they each thought they knew one another.  She would talk for hours with computer technicians, as not only was she friendly, she was hated and tortured by all electronic devices she met, especially her computer.

She was an accomplished genealogist specializing in the Shirley and Bartz families.  She would often travel not only around the US but to England several times, to capture some data about a misplaced family member.

She was preceded in death by her mom and dad, as well as her sister Annie, and brothers in-law Donnie and Robert.  She is survived by her brother Jon (&Amy) Shirley, her husband Charles, her sister-in-law Joyce Bartz, her children Jeanne (& Matt) Holt and Chuck (& Cathy) Bartz, her grandchildren Jessica (& Elliott) Harvey, Benjamin Holt, Jonathan (& Chrissy) Bartz and Stephany Bartz.  She even has 4 great grand children, Jackson and Ava Harvey & Jordyn and William Bartz. She leaves loving nieces and nephews Yvonne, Sara, Laura and Nick, and Laura, Margaret and Cindy.  She also had many Great nieces and nephews whom she loved dearly.

Services will be held Thursday, February 13, at 11 am at Donaldson Funeral Home, P.A. followed by internment at 1pm at George Washington Cemetery, 9500 Riggs Rd, Adelphi, MD  20783.

The family requests that Memorial donations to be made to the Susan G Komen Foundation in lieu of flowers.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure
5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 250, Dallas TX 75244
Tel: 1-877-465-6636
Web: http://www.komen.org/