Jean McFarlane Memorial Scholarship for Cowgirls and Cowboys

Barbara Jean McFarlane – Jean – in her 72nd year, left us to join heaven’s rodeo on September 16, 2024.

Born the second daughter of Jack and Betty Fletcher (both predeceased), Jean was raised on their home farm in Melbourne, ON, where she grew up alongside her siblings Judith (Jim) Chamberlain, Gus Fletcher (predeceased), and Scottie Fletcher. It was on the farm that Jean’s love for all animals was born; she spent as much time as she could riding horses and helping her dad and brother Gus raise and train racehorses.

Jean decided to turn her passion for animals into a career and, in 1972, left the farm to attend Centralia College’s Animal Health Technician program, where she met her lifelong friends, the Centralia Sisters. Jean spent most of her career working in veterinary clinics as a Vet Tech and later worked for the Department of Agriculture as a Provincial Meat Inspector. Although she officially retired in 2022, she could not fully step away and continued to work part-time.

Jean met her first love, Don “Gump” McFarlane (predeceased 2015), through Junior Farmers in her late teens, and they were married in January 1979. Jean and Don were the proud parents of JD (Ashley), Jennifer (predeceased 1985), and Michael (Jessica).

Jean was a loving and engaged grandmother to Taylor, Tenley, Madelyn, and her newest grandbaby, Dawn. She was the matriarch of her farm family and a staple in the hockey community. Jean loved and was loved by her sorting and penning family and was a caring aunt, great-aunt, friend, and neighbor.

If Jean met you once, she would care about you and your well-being for life. She will be dearly missed and will leave a huge hole in the hearts of all who knew her. Jean understood that the little things were the most important things in life. Her kind-heartedness and appreciation for the western lifestyle will be part of her legacy, living on through her little cowgirls. Long live cowgirls.

A GoFundMe has been set-up to establish a memorial scholarship fund to support young cowgirls and cowboys.