Passed away on December 20, 2025, at the Peter D. Clark Centre in Ottawa, Ontario. Born on January 4, 1935. Predeceased by her beloved husband of 66 years, Richard "Dick" Warnock. Caring mother of Glenn (Maggie Steingass), Bruce (Tina Hogue), James (Sima), Robert (Jennifer McQuarrie), Charles (late Theresa Kanabe), Richard (Claire), Scott (Valentina Antonova), Thomas, Jeanie (John Ogilvie) and Julia. Proud grandmother of nineteen grandchildren. Survived by sisters Alice Savage and Ellen Bell. Predeceased by her parents Bryan Bonnell and Elizabeth (nee Baker), sisters Elizabeth Varlien and Ruth Hutchins, and brother Stephen Alonzo Powell.

Born and raised in Summit, New Jersey, Jean was the youngest of six children and grew up in a family distinguished by its deep love of classical music. Her father played the violin and mandolin, while Jean’s choice was the trombone, an instrument that would become her trademark.

Along with music, horses were Jean’s other lifelong passion. As a child, she spent much of her free time with her sister Ruth at Watchung Stables, an easy bike ride from home. There, Jean developed a strong foundation in horsemanship, working at the stables and riding the difficult horses.

Throughout her life, Jean was known for her exceptional work ethic and formidable strength of will. Fiercely independent, she often clashed with her equally strong-minded but more conventional mother. At sixteen, Jean began working as a dentist’s assistant to save money to buy a horse and to go on a cruise, unusual aspirations for a teenage girl in the 1950s. Both ambitions were realized: she purchased her pride and joy, a horse she named Handsome, and earned enough money to take both herself and her mother, as chaperone, on a cruise.

Jean often said she struggled in high school and believed she might not have finished were it not for her music teacher and the school’s music program. After graduation, she was accepted into Colorado College’s music program based on her high SAT scores and successful auditions on the trombone and piano. In her third year, deciding that a professional music career was unlikely, Jean switched her studies to electrical engineering, a rare choice for a woman at that time.

It was then that she met Richard “Dick” Warnock, a recently returned Korean War veteran and Illinois farm boy who was teaching in the engineering department. Jean later confessed that she was instantly smitten and set out, with characteristic determination, to win his affection. Dick was also impressed and later noted that one of the first things he noticed about Jean was her love of classical music; while other students would hang around the student union chatting, Jean would go upstairs to listen to classical music on the record player.

Jean and Dick married in 1955, and their first of ten children was born the following year. The early years were challenging, as they lived on a graduate student’s income while their family steadily grew. In 1960, Dick earned his PhD and accepted a position at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. Six years later, the family moved to Ottawa, Canada, after Dick was offered a tenured position in the newly established engineering department at the University of Ottawa.

Jean was never interested in the conventional middle-class lifestyle of a professor’s wife. Instead, she and Dick pursued what they both dreamed of, owning a farm and pursuing a self-sufficient country life for themselves and their children. Here, Jean’s pioneer work ethic stood her in good stead: she baked the family’s bread every morning, sewed her own clothes, helped grow the family’s food, and took on much of the responsibility for caring for the farm’s livestock while her husband was teaching.

Yet even amid the work of her farm and family, Jean still made time for her music. Along with Dick, she helped found the Ottawa Community Concert Band and later the Seaway Winds, as well as playing with the Parkdale Orchestra and the Rockland Band. In retirement, Jean resumed trombone and piano lessons and succeeded in becoming a member of the Ottawa Chamber Orchestra, an accomplishment that filled her with pride.

An intensely loyal mother who always placed her children’s needs before her own, Jean shared her love of classical music generously with her family. From her extensive record collection to later tapes and CDs, and through her devotion to CBC radio, classical music was a constant presence in the home, the car, and the barn. While one of her great aggravations of the 80’s was hearing her children’s rock music, one of her great joys was the invention of the Walkman, which allowed her to listen to music while completing her endless barn and household chores. She also loved to sing popular tunes for her children, who remember her breaking into song at the most unexpected moments.

With the full support of her generous husband, Jean was also able to fulfill another lifelong ambition: owning and breeding horses. She established a small Welsh pony breeding operation and continued raising hunter ponies into the 1990s, first in Cantley, Quebec, then later in Moose Creek, Ontario.

Jean took great pride in her children and her grandchildren, seeming more pleased with their accomplishments than aware of her own efforts in providing such a solid foundation for her family. Above all, Jean was blessed with the love, companionship, and understanding of her dear husband, Dick, who truly meant the world to her. Their marriage was a true partnership, and they showed the power of a loving, respectful relationship.

Together, they transcended conventional gender roles: Dick, kind, gentle, and patient; Jean, indomitable, determined, and outspoken. Whether on camping trips with a crowd of small children or working side by side with their cows and later ponies, theirs was a life built on shared purpose, deep affection, and mutual respect.

In keeping with Jean's request, there will be no visitation or funeral, and a private memorial will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to a charity of one's choice. The family wishes to thank Rose Henneberry for her kind and compassionate support, friendship, and care for Jean in her last years.

“Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” -Berthold Auerbach

“What greater thing is there for two human souls, than to feel that they are joined for life.” -George Eliot