Jeanne Carol Duli-Kreuiter

Jeanne Carol Duli-Kreuiter was born in Pittsburgh, PA. She was the first of five children to be born to George and Ellen Duli. George was in the Navy. In the early years of Jeanne's life the family was assigned to Hawaii, where Jeanne spent the first few years of her childhood. Jeanne was a vivacious and beautiful child, with a "light up the room" smile she would carry with her the rest of her life. After the Korean War, the family moved to San Diego, settling in Logan Heights. Eventually, the family moved to Escondido where Jeanne lived until she went off to college in 1970.

Jeanne had a zest for learning about the world around her. Even as a small child, she wanted to know every thing she could about everything she encountered. She carried this curiosity throughout her entire life. This quest for knowledge lead her to attend and study at colleges throughout her twenties. She graduated from Escondido High School in 1968 with Honors. From 1968 to 1970 she attended Cal Western, San Diego. She transferred from Cal Western to the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1970 to study Social Sciences. Jeanne wanted to be a teacher. In 1971 she transferred to the University of California at Berkeley, where she earned a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Social Sciences in 1972. After Berkeley, she took a hiatus from schooling and moved to the Mt. Shasta area to explore more deeply the natural world around her.

Jeanne loved all things in nature. She lived, worked and explored all of what the Northern California mountains had to offer. The lakes, the mountains, the rain and snow, the flowers and trees, the rocks and plants. She explored them all in her life long quest for knowing. Living in the mountains, she developed a deep earthy nature and a deep love for the world of nature she had embraced. She also made life long friends and discovered a deeper knowledge of love. She made friends in those mountains that lasted her a life time. She moved from Mt. Shasta to Greenville and then to Taylorsville, where she lived with one of the loves of her life. She became an avid camper and backpacker, exploring all the wonders of the Sierra Nevada range. She embraced it all and it gave her a profound love and understanding of the simple things in life. She sometimes said these were some of the best years of her life.

In 1976, Jeanne decided it was time to go back to college. She enrolled at Chico State University to pursue obtaining her Teaching Credential. She commuted from Taylorville to Chico, up and down the Feather River Canyon, to attend classes. In 1978, she moved to Chico to be closer to the college. She earned her California Teaching Credential later that year. While in Chico, she was courted by an old friend who would become her husband.

On February 14, 1979, Jeanne married Robert Terry Kreuiter in an intimate ceremony at a friend's house in Chico. Terry worked overseas building oil refineries for the Fluor Corporation. He had been overseas working in South Korea and Saudi Arabia. The next assignment was Venezuela. On the way, the newlyweds spent their honeymoon in Jamaica. They spent almost 4 years in Judibana, Venezuela. While Terry worked on the refinery, Jeanne got a job teaching the expat kids at the local school. While in Venezuela they took many adventures to the local islands in the Caribbean (Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, St. Thomas and Puerto Rico) and around Venezuela (Caracas, Tovar and the Andes near Merida). Jeanne loved being in Venezuela, embracing the many challenges of a different culture. She also loved the traveling and exploring the assignment afforded. We acquired our first of many dogs in Venezuela. Jeanne bought a dog, Duke, for Terry as a birthday present. In Fall, 1982, when the project was complete, Jeanne and Terry returned to the USA for 30 days before the next assignment was to begin. During the 30 days, they met up with their mountains friends to go on a 10 day back pack into the Sierra mountains east of Yosemite. It was a legendary back pack.

In the Fall of 1982, they were assigned to another oil refinery project in Cilacap, Indonesia. They, along with Big Duke, spent about 2 years there, Terry working on the refinery and Jeanne teaching the expat kids at the local school. The school would pay Jeanne in cash. The exchange rate was $1 = 1,500 Rupees. Every 2 weeks she'd come home with a shopping bag of full Indonesian Rupees. We always had a good laugh about that. As was her way, Jeanne embraced the Indonesian experience and culture. We took many trips while we were there- Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Borobudur, Bali, Tahiti, Singapore, Bangkok and Hawaii. Jeanne loved to travel and see the world. She would immerse herself in the wonders of where ever we went. In the summer of 1984, the refinery project was finished. We spent 2 weeks in Hawaii, before returning to California. We rented a house in Hermosa Beach. Terry was assigned to work on the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Jeanne worked on her Masters Degree.

After the Olympics, we moved to Taft, California, where Terry got a job on the Naval Petroleum Reserve. On a trip to San Diego to visit Jeanne's family, we went house hunting. Jeanne fell in love with the first house we visited. In Fall of 1985, we bought that house Jeanne had her heart set on. Jeanne moved into the house in the Winter of 1985, while Terry continued to work in Taft. In the summer of 1986, the job in Taft was completed and Terry joined Jeanne in the house of her dreams. Together we lived in the house in Rancho San Diego, sharing our love and life, until Jeanne's passing in 2025. We had many, many wonderful times there, hosting many occasions and parties with family and friends. We made many adventures in subsequent years, but always had our house as our home base. Jeanne had a love of pets, dogs, cats or birds, it didn't matter. We always had pets. Jeanne got Duke a mate, Shasta, and helped mother two litters of Dalmatian puppies. She acquired guardianship of one of her nieces, Wendy, and moved her into our house and raised her after her father died. She also took in one of her sisters, Kim, when Kim left home and had no where to go. Jeanne had a deep abiding love for her family and a heart of gold. Jeanne passed on June 24, 2025, after a long battle with an intestinal malfunction from surgery. At one point, she spent 90 days in the hospital recovering from surgery. Her father, George, mother, Ellen, and one of sisters, Andrea, preceded Jeanne in death. She is survived by her husband of 46 years, Robert Terry Kreuiter; two sisters and a brother: Dori Duli, Kim Bryant and George Michael Duli;  three nieces and a nephew: Lauren Sanders, Julia Bryant, Wendy Milot and Jared Bryant.

Jeanne was one of a kind. She was very strong willed, but with a loving kindness and concern for others and the ones she loved. And she loved many. She made new friends easily and had a personality and smile that would light up any room she was in. She will be missed. May she rest in peace. Fair winds and following seas my love.