Jean F. Lee

PITTSFIELD – Jean F. Lee, 78, beloved mom and grandmother, died on April 7, 2026, in Rockland of health complications due to Alzheimer’s. She passed peacefully with her older son, Matthew, at her side.

Jean was born on June 19, 1947, in Waterville, the daughter of the late Lawrence and Virginia (Ames) Gustafson. She graduated from Hinckley High School with the class of 1965 and from the University of Maine Farmington in 1969.

Jean loved teaching and taught home economics in both Van Buren and Brunswick. She owned and operated Jean’s Preschool in Pittsfield for 40 years. She was an accomplished florist and one of the first in the state to earn the Maine Master Florist Certification, working alongside her friend, Joyce Jones, at CJ Floral for 30 years.

Jean loved kids above all else and volunteered for many organizations in her town, from the pinnacle ski club and the local hospital, to constructing floats and costumes for the egg festival and even making corsages and helping the neighborhood girls with their hair for proms. She was a member of the Congregational Church in Pittsfield and Solon for many years.

She was a passionate mother who was involved in everything possible with her two sons, Matthew and Ryan, whom she proudly raised with their father, Bill. From their birth until she was no longer able, she provided love and support to them, no matter the distance. She loved to cook, sew, quilt, make art and do so many other creative projects with her boys. From Maine to Rhode Island, New York, Florida and Alaska, she stayed connected and involved with her boys, often calling them at just the right moments to share words of encouragement.

Jean had a can-do attitude, a zest for adventure, and a ready-for-anything spirit. She traveled across the country multiple times on a motorcycle with her partner, Ron French. Even riding through snow on the back of a motorcycle to Alaska to visit her son Ryan, his wife Brianna and Jean’s granddaughter Amelia. She and Ron built a log cabin from a living tree into a finished camp on Ron’s property in Solon. The two of them loved to dance together and traveled the state to pursue line, couples and contra dances. And they made trips to Sweden to visit Jean’s extended family, touring the European countryside on a motorcycle.

In the last 11 years of her life, she finally received the daughter she always wanted, her granddaughter Amelia. Jean visited Alaska twice a year to spend every moment she could holding, playing and chasing Amelia as she flourished and grew. True to her loving nature, when Jean returned home to Maine, she stayed connected, sending care packages and letters to Amelia monthly, sometimes weekly, for over seven years.

She was a kind, compassionate woman who, in times of crisis and heartache, opened her home to her sister Lulu, brother David and son Matthew to give them love, shelter and support. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for family and friends.

Jean is survived by her two sons, Matthew Lee and Ryan Lee and wife Brianna; granddaughter, Amelia; and siblings: Louise Sanders and husband Wayne, Djuana Breard and husband Arthur, and David Gustafson; and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.

She was predeceased by her parents; and her sister-in-law, Naomi Gustafson.

The family wishes to express their gratitude to Woodlands Memory Care of Rockland and to Hospice for the wonderful care and compassion they provided to Jean.

A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m., Monday, May 11, 2026, at the Shorey-Nichols Funeral Home, 191 Hartland Ave., Pittsfield, with Pastor Nathan Richards officiating. A time of refreshment will follow in the funeral home and then a processional will immediately take place to the Fairview Cemetery in Canaan for a brief committal.

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