One-time Wyoming Arts Council board member Jean Elizabeth Bailey Healy of Worland died Monday, Jan. 19, at Worland Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center after a long-term battle with the side effects of radiation treatment for a brain tumor in 1991. She was 63.
A Minnesota native, Jean was instrumental in the establishment of the Washakie Museum. Jean, Georgia St Clair, Dorothy Froyd, Carol McCormac, Celia Davis, Dan Healy, the Worland Artists and the Washakie County Historical Society formed the Friends of the Museum group and raised private funds to buy the present museum building for Washakie County. Jean served as the first president of the board of directors of the museum after the commissioners released it to the private sector. Jean stayed active with the museum in its day-to-day operations. She also wrote a column for the Daily News called “At the Museum.”
Jean loved horses, skiing, reading, cooking and entertaining, and to be with her family. She wrote a small book about her experience with brain cancer titled “Hope for a Miracle.”
Jean is survived by her husband Mike Healy of Worland, a former state legislator, and her sons Daniel J. “DJ” Healy serving in the Peace Corps in the Ukraine and Brian Healy who is a law student at the University of Wyoming.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, Jan. 24 at noon at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Worland with the Rev. Joe E. Galligan officiating. A reception will follow the service. Cremation has taken place and the ashes will be scattered near Jackson Hole at a later date.
Memorials may be made to the Washakie Museum, 1115 Obie Sue, Worland, Wyo. 82401.