Jean Hawkins, Liberty, passed away in the arms of her family at her home on Monday evening, April 17, 2017, the result of an almost year-long struggle with colon cancer. She is survived by her husband, Stephen Pruitt Hawkins, of the home; her sons – Stephen Christopher Hawkins, Laurel, MD; Troy Bartholomew Hawkins (wife Lauren and children Benjamin Wayne, Emma Jean and Clara Elizabeth Hawkins), Pendleton, IN; Gabriel Augustine Hawkins (wife Seevan), Lenexa, KS; and Nicholas Sebastian Hawkins (wife Dawn and son, Calvin Peter Parham Hawkins), Kansas City.
Dr. Hawkins was born in Kansas City on Sept. 24, 1947, to Ruth Brown and Roy Charles Garner, both of whom predeceased her. Her sister, Julia Ann Tolin, also survives, Topeka, KS.
Jean attended and graduated from public schools in El Dorado Springs, obtained bachelors and masters degrees from Central Missouri State University in 1968 and 1970, and was awarded the Doctor of Business Administration degree from Anderson University, Anderson, IN, in 2011.
Jean taught for brief periods at several colleges, but defined her teaching career at William Jewell College in Liberty, where she taught from 1976 through her retirement in 2015. Her four sons were born and graduated from Jewell during her tenure there. She valued higher education and encouraged all her sons and her husband to pursue post-graduate education; typically unselfish, she set aside obtaining her own doctoral degree until late in her career.
Jean was a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and was a member of the AICPA, Missouri Society of CPAs, First Presbyterian Church of Liberty (and formerly Second Baptist Church of Liberty).
A memorial reception was held Sunday, May 21, at the Fellowship Hall of the First Presbyterian Church, Liberty, 138 North Main Street.
The family suggests contributions to the Dr. Jean Hawkins Memorial Accounting Award for Women at William Jewell College, 500 College Hill, Box 1032, Liberty, Missouri 64068.
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