Obituary of Jean McQuillan

Jean R McQuillan, 93, of Vineland, NJ passed away peacefully on Saturday, June 13, 2026, after a long struggle with the debilitating effects of dementia. Jean was born in 1933 in New York City, NY to Irish and Norwegian immigrants Agnes Gallagher and Thorleif Christofferson. Jean worked first at Bell Telephone as a telephone operator. She later became a registered nurse and took a job at the Vineland State School, where she worked as an RN until her retirement. Her favorite pastime year-round was working in her backyard vegetable garden. She loved flowers too, especially impatiens and cleomes, though she cultivated many other types. Affectionately known to family and friends as Pinky, Jean was an avid reader and could often be found at the Vineland Public Library borrowing books chosen for the whole family. She was also quite the amateur astrologist and remembered everyone's birth date and their sign of the zodiac. Nonetheless, she was first and foremost an eminently practical person with a no-nonsense approach to life in general. Jean was a dichotomy of sorts with a tough nut side and a lighthearted silly side that prompted her doting husband to compare her to a chameleon. She was passionately in love with Greek music and the great classical music composers. She had a soft spot for birds and for ladybugs, butterflies and other insects like caterpillars and was famous for rescuing them from indoors back to the freedom of the outdoors. Jean is survived by her daughter, Karin McQuillan of Reykjavik, Iceland; her son Philip McQuillan of Vineland, NJ and grandson Alex McQuillan and his children Aarman and Viana of San Diego, CA. She was predeceased by her much-beloved husband of 58 years, Philip L. McQuillan and by her grandson Sigurður Kristófer Óskarsson of Reykjavik, Iceland due to a tragic Search & Rescue training accident. A church visitation will be held on Tuesday, June 23rd from 10:30am to 11:30am followed by funeral mass at 11:30 am from Christ The Good Shepherd Parish - Church Of Saint Isidore The Farmer, 1655 Magnolia Road, Vineland. Interment will follow in Sacred Heart Cemetery, Vineland. ARRANGEMENTS are under the supervision of Rone Funeral Service, 1110 East Chestnut Avenue, Vineland, NJ 08360 To send online condolences please visit our website at www.RONEFUNERALSERVICE.com