JEAN HILDEGARDE VINALL BLEAKLEY

"Miss Jean"

Jean Bleakley passed away peacefully on the evening of March 21, 2016. She was born at home on West Broadway in Enid, Oklahoma on July 26, 1922 to Oscar and Matilda Vinall, the middle of five siblings.She began her lifelong love of dance relatively late, with her first ballet lesson at age 12, but was teaching dance by age 16. She met her future husband, Bruce, during their senior year at Central High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. They both attended the University of Tulsa and were married on October 3, 1942. After Bruce's graduation in 1943, she accompanied him during his World War II service stateside as an aircraft maintenance officer. During that time, Jean served as a civilian driver for the Army, expertly operating a Packard One-Eighty command staff car for Ordnance Department VIPs. After the war, she started her own dance school in Alvin, Texas, in 1948.From 1950 to 1974, "Miss Jean" operated the most successful dance studio in Tulsa. The studio's quality was validated by the several families who enrolled two, three, four, and even five of their children. She created a unique studio environment where everyone knew they were valued and loved as individuals, regardless of their level of talent. She was particularly gratified in the later years by the enrollment of several second-generation pupils, the offspring of some of her earliest students. Many of her students also went on to establish their own dance studios.Jean's childhood hero was Hollywood dancer and actress Eleanor Powell, whom she met backstage in the 1960s while Miss Powell was making a late-career series of live performances. Her meeting with Powell inspired her to seek out the star's tap teacher, Willie Covan, during a vacation trip to Los Angeles, where she took two exhaustive one-hour lessons from the aging master.Her students benefitted greatly from her association with several well-known dance artists who gave Master Classes at her studio, including Igor Youskevitch, Dolores and Larry Long, Raoul Appel, Marjorie Tallchief, Robert Bell, and others. Her annual dance "recitals" were more like major stage productions, featuring current themes, colorful and elaborate costumes, and live music. The performances attracted many audience members who did not have children at the studio.Jean also danced and choreographed for the Kansas City Starlight Theatre, the Tulsa Opera, the Oklahoma City Symphony, the Miss Oklahoma pageant and Miss America pageants. She choreographed productions for the Tulsa Little Theater and was a co-founder of Dance Showcase, a regional ballet company that toured three states. After leaving Tulsa to support her husband Bruce in his position as a petroleum industry executive, she stayed active in ballet, taking classes in Houston and London, England, before coming to Dallas, where Bruce was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Dallas-based Petroleum Engineer International magazine.When the Bleakleys settled in Dallas in 1978, Jean quickly made friends in her Highland Park neighborhood and became an "adopted" grandmother to several of her younger friends' children. For a time she served as a Docent at the Dallas Arboretum, and she volunteered at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children as "Rosie the Clown," brightening the lives of many young patients. She later was active with the Altar Guild at Highland Park United Methodist Church.Jean also began a long association with the Brookhaven College School of the Arts, enrolling in ballet and acting classes and later choreographing and performing in several productions. For nine years, she choreographed and performed in the Platinum Follies at Brookhaven, a production for performers 55 and older. In 1985 she was given a Community Service Award for her work teaching dance to minority children in the Dallas area. Not limiting herself to traditional disciplines, she also studied tai chi, mastering four long forms in both fan and sword.For several years, Jean taught a weekly tap dancing class at the Lively Senior Center, and later the new Heritage Center, in Irving. The Heritage "Lively Tappers" were popular performers at numerous senior events in the greater Dallas area. Jean retired from this last experience as a dance teacher at the age of 88, the most senior member of the class.Jean is preceded in death by her parents, her husband Bruce of 45 years, and her four siblings: Margaret Johnson, James Vinall, Rollin P. (Bud) Vinall, and Janice Stewart. She is survived by her son Bruce and his wife Stacey, her grandson Allan and his wife Sarah, great-grandchildren Bryce, Brooke, and Cole, and eleven nieces and nephews. Through family marriages she was also blessed with additional granddaughters Brittany, Stephanie, and Natalie, and great-grandsons Jacob and Nolan.A memorial service in celebration of Jeans life will be held in the Cox Chapel of Highland Park United Methodist Church at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, April 22, 2016, followed by a reception in the Fellowship Hall. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Highland Park United Methodist Church or the Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center, 1335 Broadway, San Diego, California 92101.Please leave the family condolences and share memories on this website.