Jean Arvilla Weeks Hanna

Jean Arvilla Weeks Hanna
1933-2024

Jean Arvilla Weeks Hanna, a longtime resident of Longboat Key passed away on February 21st, 2024.  Born September 24, 1933 and raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, she enjoyed her childhood summers on the coast of Connecticut at Groton Long Point with her parents Edwin and Arvilla Weeks and her brother Charles. This was the foundation for Jean’s lifelong love of the sea.

Jean is a graduate from Lasell Junior College in Newton, Massachusetts. She married and raised her four children in Brevard, North Carolina, Newark, Delaware and Groton Long Point where they all enjoyed many happy seaside summers together.

Jean first came to Florida as a small child, visiting her grandmother Henrietta Cary Burton in Sarasota.  Her parents bought a home on Longboat Key in 1970 where Jean regularly visited.  She became a winter resident in 1994, and after retiring in 2002 moved to Longboat Key as a full-time resident.

Jean had a good head for business and a gift for sales. As a teenager she began to publish the Groton Long Point Summer Social Directory and continued to do so for fifty years.  Jean loved to travel and visited Europe and Scotland a number of times. She also visited Australia, Tahiti and the United Arab Emirates (note the falcon).

A devoted member of the Longboat Island Chapel, she volunteered her time and actively participated in a number of groups. The Pastors will remember Jean as a force of life who was never shy to share her opinion, especially if she thought the sermon was too long.  Jean volunteered as a docent at the Mote Marine Aquarium and enjoyed talking to visitors about the manatees, the gentle creatures she loved. Jean also loved to play bridge and dominos. Her ready smile, easy laugh, fun sense of humor, unquenchable good nature and generosity endeared her to many. She maintained her friendships from childhood throughout her long life, and made many new friends along the way.

Jean’s love for her family was unconditional. She was always there for her children: Linda Golden, Robert Hanna, Stephen Hanna, and Jonathan Hanna and her grandchildren: Jesse Golden (pre-deceased), Aron Hanna, Melody Miick-Hanna, and Griffin Hanna. She will always be remembered by her many friends near and far.

Donations in Jean’s name can be made to the Longboat Island Chapel.

Sail on, Jeannie Weeks. Sail on…