Jill Louise . Perelman (Stott)

– She was born on Valentine's Day 1931 and she died on Mother's Day 2015. Bookending her life of eighty-four years with holidays seems ironically fitting for a woman frequently heard referencing many of them as "just another day."

Born Jill Louise Stott in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Jill was the daughter of Mildred Sweum and Calvin B. Stott, a district ranger on the Chippewa National Forest. Her maternal grandparents were Norwegian immigrants who ran the lumber mill in nearby Deer River. Jill and her younger sister Nancy developed a deep respect and knowledge for trees, plants and their identification through Calvin's tutelage.

Calvin and Mildred also taught their daughters to be hard workers, and as a high schooler holding a summer job in Milwaukee Jill worked at the Bell Telephone Co. alongside some of the first black women holding decent jobs in this country. During her education at the National College of Education in Evanston, Illinois, she worked as a student teacher at an inner-city school. Educating children was a passion she never lost.

In her 20s, she met and married Mel Perelman, and together they traveled, worked and made homes in Houston, Switzerland, central Indiana, and Heswall and Camberley, England.

England would be a country of particular fondness for Jill, her years there among the happiest of her life. For a few years, home was a lovely old Tudor-style house on a hill. Day trips to London became a treasured and enriching time for her, indulging in museum and gallery visits, collecting from "junk" and clothing stores.

After England, in Indiana Jill poured her energy into her family and a barn full of quarter horses, a series of German shepherds, barn cats and one tough old billy goat. She could often be found in her gardens, a kerchief tied around her head, using her bare hands to rip up weeds and tend to her fabulous, ever-expanding flower beds.

Before moving to Montana in her 70s, Jill donated a portion of her home and land north of Indianapolis to the Carmel Clay Parks Department. Now, ponds, trails and trees stand in an area that might otherwise have been developed into just another "goddamn development." Today, there is a sledding hill named in her honor that teems with children after any snowfall.

And in addition to donating money, Jill donated her time. For 28 years, she volunteered at the United Way; for 32 years, she delivered Meals on Wheels. For these acts of volunteerism and many, many more, in 1994 Jill won a Jefferson Award, a nationally recognized honor. Further causes Jill championed throughout her life included food banks, homeless shelters, the Nature Conservancy, the Wilderness Society and various Native American advocacy groups. She was a founding member of Greenspace, a group dedicated to preserving natural habitats.

When not donating her time, Jill was devoting herself to her art. Throughout her 84 years, Jill was a prolific fiber artist. Her surviving body of work includes original quilts, dolls, tapestries, clothing, journals and jewelry; rarely did an evening pass in which Jill was not hunched over the sewing machine, or propped up in bed, hands working while the television blared the 5 o'clock news. She was a member of the Embroiderer's Guild of America and taught art workshops on numerous occasions. Perhaps her most intricate remaining works are her incredible array of Pisanki Ukrainian eggs, dyed and hand-painted in rich colors and complex geometric patterns.

Some self-professed highlights of her life included planting trees in Kenya, walking along Hadrian's Wall, sailing on the Queen Elizabeth, sitting on the rocks of Stonehenge, shopping at Harrods, kissing the Blarney Stone, having friendly chats with Paul McCartney's stepmom, petting an elephant and a rhinoceros, walking through ash on Mount Vesuvius, watching a bullfight in old Mexico, watching tennis at Wimbledon, flying to London on the Concorde, attending Ascot with the Queen, watching Frank Sinatra croon into his microphone, holding an Oscar in hand, watching the Duke of Windsor play polo, her many quilting and embroidery awards, wildlife watching in Montana. What a life. What a character.

Remaining to miss her are children, Steven (Sheree) of San Diego, Wendy Schrimper of Nashville, Indiana, and Kent (Mary Shaffer) in Missoula; and her grandchildren, Robert and Zachary, Nikki, Matthew, Michael and Dana, and Ethan and Leo; nephew, Scott; niece, Kirsten; and in-law, Sandy of Wisconsin. And the many, many good friends left everywhere she lived.

At this time, a memorial is not planned, but one will be announced at a later date. Meanwhile, Jill would want you to donate time and money and energy to causes she believed in. The arts, the environment, education and social justice.

Jill once found chiseled on a relative's gravestone the epitaph "She did what she could." Jill had been heard to say on occasion that she would like this said about her one day. So here it is. Jill Perelman, she did what she could.
Read Jill Perelman's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.