Jean Sears

Jean Fuller Sears, 90, of Lenexa KS, passed away June 26, 2026 at her home in Lakeview Village Senior Living Community.

Jean was born in 1935 to Merrick and Louise Fuller of Tenafly, NJ. She graduated from Tenafly High School and then earned a diploma from the prestigious Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City. Soon after earning that degree, she was hired as the secretary to the Treasurer of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in NYC.

In 1955, on a blind date, she met Richard Sears. They dated during his time in the Army and college and they wed in 1957. In 1960 Richard was hired as a package designer for Hallmark Cards and, together with their young daughter Lori, they moved to the Kansas City area. Their son, Steve, was born the following year.

Jean was initially a full-time homemaker, but she rejoined the workforce once her two children reached junior high school age. Over 20 years she worked in a variety of administrative roles with the Shawnee Mission School District eventually serving for seven years as the principal’s secretary at Milburn/Antioch Middle School.

Richard and Jean enjoyed 60 years together, living in Merriam, KS, and then Lenexa. She loved her family and many friends, their Ozarks lake cabin, bridge clubs, Chiefs football, Jayhawk basketball, and Beta Sigma Phi social sorority. They were long-serving members of Southminster Presbyterian Church and residents of Lakeview Village for 26 years.

All who knew and loved Jean will forever remember her warm and caring spirit, ubiquitous greeting cards and notes, impeccable penmanship, and her famously scrumptious cupcake brownies — chocolatey bites of pure Jean love.

She leaves this world with a strong faith that she will enjoy her eternal life, side by side, with her beloved husband.

Jean is survived by daughter and son-in-law Lori and Gary Norman (Atwater, CA); son and son-in-law Steve Sears and John Lavryssen (Waikoloa, HI); grandson Brett Nickelson, wife Michelle, and great granddaughters Sydney and Leah (Atwater, CA); granddaughter Jennifer Jimenez, husband Ken, and great grandsons Tyler and Sean (Coeur D’Alene, ID), and granddaughter Kristina Nickelson, partner Joe, and their kids Jaida, Caiden and Hunter (Fresno, CA).

A Celebration of Life will take place at Southminster Presbyterian Church, 6300 Roe Ave., Prairie Village on Monday, July 6 at 1 p.m. It will be live-streamed at YouTube.com/@southminsterpresbyterian506.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to Southminster Church or the Lakeview Education Endowment Fund, 9100 Park, Lenexa KS 66215.