Nora Jeanne Degnan

Nora Jeanne Degnan, 84, of Rochester, formerly of Lewiston and San Francisco, died Thursday morning, August 20, at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota. A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date to allow relatives from a distance to participate. Nora Jeanne Degnan was born on October 31, 1930 in Utica Township to Michael Bernard Degnan and Ellen Ronan Degnan. She grew up in rural Lewiston and attended the Lewiston consolidated schools, graduating in 1948. She was known all her life to friends and family as Jeanne. In later years she found it more convenient to use her first name, Nora, for business transactions. Upon graduating from high school in 1948, Jeanne moved to Rochester and worked for a couple of years at St. Mary's Hospital. She then moved to St. Paul where she was employed by Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance Company as a bookkeeper. When friends in St. Paul moved to California in 1951, she decided to follow their example. Upon her arrival in San Francisco, Jeanne fell in love with the city and settled there working as a bookkeeper with a New Zealand insurance company and later with Fireman's Fund as a supervisor. She soon became deeply involved in Fireman's Fund's automation of the bookkeeping function. She served the rest of her career as a technical consultant on the application of automation advances to the company's financial records. She retired in 1992 and continued living in San Francisco until her health began to decline. She moved to Washington, DC in 2007 to be near a sister, and they both returned to Minnesota in 2009 to be near family. Jeanne is survived by her brother, Charles, her sisters, Rosemary (Sister Ronan) OSF and Katherine, all currently residing in Rochester; her nephew, John Rowan, Yorba Linda, CA; her nieces, Nancy Degnan, Santa Cruz, CA, Mary Louise (Richard) Harrity, Hudson, MA, Charity (Brian) Floen, Rochester, and Margaret (Mark) Daly, Minnetonka, MN, numerous great nieces and nephews, and one great-great niece, Ronan Kay Floen, who has been the joy of her last years. Jeanne was preceded in death by her parents, her siblings Ronan E. Degnan of Berkeley, CA, Bernardine (James) Rowan of Winona, Patrice Degnan, of Lewiston, a niece, Ellen Degnan Reeves, of San Jose, CA, and a nephew, Michael Degnan of Berkeley, CA. Jeanne was a gentle soul possessed of a generous heart, a keen appreciation of beauty in nature and the arts, and an adventurous spirit. She loved exploring the outdoors, walking, and knitting. She was an avid reader, a fan of theater, opera, and ballet. Jeanne enjoyed spectator sports such as football, baseball and tennis and was a forty-niners season ticket holder for many years. Her special enthusiasm was for travel. Having traveled extensively in the United States, Europe and Ireland and took many cruises in her later years, visiting Alaska many times. Her travel journal journals are treasured by her family and friends and will keep her memory alive. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Mayo Clinic Hospice.
Tribute video can be found at: videos.lifetributes.com/634852