Rev. Jeanette L. Huntman Sutfin passed away peacefully on October 28, 2022. Pastor Jan, as she was known to many, was 87 years old. In her last weeks she was surrounded by love - spending time with her three sons, daughter-in-law, sisters, brother and grandchildren. A long-time resident of Wheaton, Glen Ellyn, Itasca, and Chicago Illinois, Jan was an adoring mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was preceded in death by her loving husband of 60 years, Roger , who passed away in 2018.

Born in Chicago, she grew up in a happy home with her mother Anna, father Fred, sisters Shirley, Marilyn, Judy, and brother Philip in Norwood Park on the Northwest side. She made life-long friends at her beloved Norwood Park Grammar School – where she showed an early gift for leadership when she was elected School Student Mayor. She also attended Taft High School and attended class reunions for many decades thereafter, keeping in touch with a strong group of alumni. From a young age she loved drama, singing and playing the violin. In later years she learned jazz piano and loved listening to WDCB 90.9FM, a public radio station in Glen Ellyn broadcasting jazz across Chicagoland.

In a 1997 Pioneer Press Newspaper interview she remarked on growing up in Norwood Park, "I had a marvelous childhood with a great school and wonderful people. So naturally going back there (to visit) is a pleasant experience for me. I can name every house on the block and all the places I played with my friends. It brings back so many memories." On her last trip to the old neighborhood in 2018 and even with her failing memory, she could still recall many details of her life there more than 75 years before.

She and Roger met in the mid-1950s in a Northern Illinois University dormitory cafeteria when they accidentally collided over a tray of full milk glasses. Rather than crying over spilled milk, they began dating and after graduation were married in September 1957. Life took them to San Antonio, where Roger was stationed at Fort Sam Houston in the Army, during the Korean Conflict. Eventually they brought their two young sons back to the Chicago suburbs to be closer to family, where a third son was born. Jan kept busy raising the boys, gardening, painting and hanging wallpaper in each home they lived in, while volunteering in the community. Moving to Glen Ellyn in 1970, she was often an English, speech and drama substitute teacher at Glenbard West High School, eventually teaching speech for a year. She would later both impress and terrorize her children and students with her uncanny ability to diagram the most difficult sentences and instantly correct the errant on the grammatical rules for that & which, particles & articles, punctuation, and pretty much any question of proper English usage. She was a life-long learner, and avid letter-writer, not letting any holiday, birthday or change in seasons go by without sending a card… which invariably started with the local weather report or mention of a bird or squirrel she saw outside the window. She was not beyond taking colorful fall leaves, pressing them in wax paper with a hot iron and sending them across the country or around the world to her boys to herald the start of Fall in Illinois. She patiently put up with the vast array of old cars (and their garage-filling parts) that drove in and out of her life thanks to Roger's classic car passion. But she learned to be proficient at lifting the hood and using a hammer to silence the occasionally broken (and blaring) car horn in her red '64 Plymouth Valiant. Passers-by were impressed. She took it all in stride.

Jeannette loved lilacs, roses, and tulips and took regular trips to Lilacia Park in Lombard, which specializes in all of them. Into her 80's, Jan could be found in her Wheaton garden on Evergreen Street, tending flowers or tackling weeds. A small, quaint cottage at Powers Lake in southern Wisconsin was a welcome getaway. The solitude and nurturing of living things, while leaving the space more beautiful than it was before she started, is an apt metaphor for her life's accomplishments.

Multi-talented, she shined in the kitchen, where her life-long sweet tooth led her to bake award-winning pies (1st Prize for her strawberry-rhubarb pie in the Glen Ellyn Fourth of July contest); pumpkin, and pecan were family favorites. Cookies, hot chocolate (when the grand kids came over) and a family recipe for German potato salad made mouths water.

While family was extremely important… faith in God was paramount to Pastor Jan. A dedicated, life-long Christian, she contributed in a myriad of ways to the Presbyterian church. When they called, she never said no. As a layperson she taught Sunday school during the year, organized bible studies and adult groups, started and ran vacation bible school camps for kids and summer theatre groups for teens.

She eventually became the first Director of Christian Education in 1975 at the First Presbyterian Church of Glen Ellyn. After several years in that role, she was called to the ministry and went back to school, attending McCormick Theological Seminary earning her Master of Divinity in May 1979, and being awarded the Ellen and James Taylor Preaching Prize. She was formally ordained as a Presbyterian Minister in 1980 at the First Presbyterian Church of Glen Ellyn. Pastor Jan was among the first of an early and growing number of women ordained as clergy in the Presbyterian Church USA; a trend that accelerated in the 1980s.

Over the decades she served at several churches including: Oriole Park's St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Elmhurst Presbyterian, Glenview Presbyterian, Ivanhoe Presbyterian, Irvingwood-Acacia Presbyterian, and served as Associate Executive of the Presbytery of Chicago. She brought her lifelong passion for drama into the church as a teaching and engagement tool for young and old, writing and directing plays with religious themes and teachings. She was a deep thinker and avid writer…but also had a sharp wit and sense of humor. Pastor Jan admitted her passion for working in smaller churches with limited resources, once saying it was "very rewarding" to help them grow.

In the 1997 Pioneer Press Interview, she remarked, "I enjoy my ministry in regard to all age groups. I love children dearly, and I appreciate and respect senior citizens too. I enjoy leading different kinds of activities, no matter what age, which can help to put people in a positive frame of mind."

Jan was preceded in death by her husband of 60 years, Roger , her father Frederick, mother Anna (Huntman) Nelson, step-father Seldon Nelson, and sister Shirley (Huntman) Taylor. She is survived by her sisters Marilyn (Huntman) Giese, Judy (Huntman) Kelfstrom and brother Phillip Huntman (Louise), and sons Gary (Sarah), Gregg (Tara), and Glenn (Kat), many beloved nieces, nephews, grandkids and three great-grandchildren. All of whom will remember her warmth, love, wonderful pies and cookies, Beanie Baby collection, costumed glass Mrs. Butterworth's bottles, and her steadfast faith in God. Visitation will be held at the First Presbyterian Church of Glen Ellyn on Saturday, November 19, 2022 starting at 10:30 a.m. The funeral service will follow directly at 11:00 a.m. A light lunch and fellowship will follow at the church. Interment will take place at Ridgewood Memorial Park in Des Plaines, IL.

Please sign the family and friend's guest book HERE .

For additional information call Hultgren Funeral Home at 630-668-0027.