Jean Powers Sheild

LIVESTREAM SERVICE:

Jean's Livestream Service will begin at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, August 9, 2025. Scroll down to the Webcast section and click on "Watch Now."

MADISON - Jean P. Sheild passed away peacefully at her home in Madison, on July 1, 2025. Jean was born on August 31, 1922, to Celia (nee Marshall) and Cyrus Jordan in Newton, Mass.
 

Growing up, Jean and her older sister, Eleanor, were surrounded by a loving extended family despite the lean times of the Great Depression. She attended Newton High School where she met her future husband, Thomas Powers, and graduated from Middlebury College (1943), majoring in French. After college, she moved to Washington, D.C. and worked in the Signal Corps.
 

In 1944, she married Thomas Powers prior to his deployment to the Pacific Theater as a U.S. Navy pilot. After the war, they returned to Newton where their two sons were born, Tom in 1948, and Steve in 1950.
 

Jean’s life was upended in 1952 when, tragically, her husband died suddenly from a brain tumor. Jean and the boys moved in with her parents, and she returned to school, earning a Master’s in Education from Boston University. She taught third grade in Newton for two years.
 

In 1958, Jean married John Sheild and the family moved to Redfield, S. D., where John became the pastor of the First Congregational Church (UCC). Jean’s hopes for a horse and a ranch did not materialize, but she did add a son Peter (1959) and a daughter Carolyn (1961) to the family.
 

In 1966, Jean and the family moved to Madison, Wis., when John was called to be the Associate Pastor at Lake Edge United Church of Christ. Jean was soon hired by the Madison School District, teaching third and fourth grade at Orchard Ridge Elementary School until 1992. In 1978, she and her class were instrumental in getting Senate Bill 731 passed by the state legislature which mandated Braille markings in Wisconsin elevators.
 

Jean had many interests. She loved to travel and enjoyed trips to France, Alaska, Norway, Holland and Israel, as well as many National Parks. She appreciated the beauty of nature and savored being near the ocean, especially Cape Cod. She was an avid biker and cross-country skier. She loved reading and playing cards. She was a dedicated volunteer at Olbrich Gardens for 25 years and a member of Chapter BW as a PEO.
 

Above all, she valued her faith and family. She was quick to smile and always had a sparkle in her eye. Her warmth and kindness radiated to everyone around her. She was an inveterate optimist, and inherited from her parents a lifelong instinct, that, whatever comes, “we’ll just make the best of it.” That philosophy served her well throughout her life.
 

Jean considered her children her proudest accomplishment, and is survived by her children, Thomas Powers (Pat), Stephen Powers (Jane), Peter Sheild (Christa) and Carolyn Sheild; and her grandchildren, Katherine Powers (Jon) and their children, Simon and Nora; Emily Dahl (Ben) and their children, Peter and Sofie; Elizabeth Powers, Ashly Sheild, Alexandra Nortman (Brad) and Rexford Sheild (fiancée, Nicole). Jean was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, John, on April 16, 2025.

Memorials may be made to Olbrich Botanical Society, 3330 Atwood Ave., Madison, WI 53704 or at www.olbrich.org.

A celebration of life will be held at GUNDERSON EAST FUNERAL HOME AND CREMATION CARE, 5203 Monona Drive, Madison, at 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 9, 2025. Family and friends who wish to view the celebration via LIVESTREAM may visit Jean’s obituary page at www.gundersonfh.com at the time of the service and click on “Watch Now” in the Webcast section. A visitation will be held at the funeral home from 10 a.m. until the time of the service on Saturday.

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson East

Funeral & Cremation Care

5203 Monona Drive

(608) 221-5420