Kenneth Poe Funeral Services

March 13, 2025

CHARLOTTE – Jean Batten once read an interview with a centenarian, whose advice was: “Marry a good man and live a wondrous life.” And so she did and it was.

That wondrous life ended Thursday, March 13, 2025, when Jean Elaine Trueworthy Batten peacefully died at her home in Charlotte at age 90.  She was sad to go “so young”, she said, but grateful that “a little girl from Rowland, North Carolina” was able to live the life she did.

One cannot begin to tell Jean’s story without talking about the fairy-tale love affair she had with her husband, Jim.  Their obvious love and devotion to each other was a model for their children and everyone around them, and his career exposed her to places and people she could never have imagined, including Queen Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan and many others.

It all started in 1956 at a Davidson College-Queens College mixer, when Jean spotted a skinny guy with big ears across the room and instantly knew she needed to get to know him.  He was, among other things, the editor of the Davidsonian student newspaper.  So Jean decided that Queens needed a student paper, too, and she wanted to meet with Jim for advice.  She set up an appointment, but the mutual attraction was so immediate that they never got around to talking about the newspaper.

They married Feb. 22, 1958.  Jean spent the next 37 years making a loving home for her family and supporting Jim’s rise to become chairman and CEO of Knight Ridder Newspapers, then a Fortune 500 company and long the nation’s second-largest newspaper company.  As chairman of the board of the Associated Press, Jim took Jean to far-flung places across the globe.  On one trip, they were on the second floor of a Clipper airplane on their way to somewhere in Europe or Asia and Jim, himself from a tiny town in Virginia, turned to Jean and said, “Not bad for a little girl from Rowland!”  It was not a boast but an appreciation and amazement.

Sadly, Jim and Jean’s beautiful 39-year relationship ended way too soon, when Jim died tragically at age 59 of a brain tumor in 1995.

Jean was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Rowland and Sanford before attending Queens College, now Queens University of Charlotte, in 1953.  She was salutatorian, student body president and head of the Honor Council before graduating summa cum laude with a degree in psychology in 1957.  She was also an accomplished pianist and organist.

Jim’s career moved them to nine cities in 18 years before they settled in Miami in 1975.  There, Jean was an active community volunteer, serving on the boards of Planned Parenthood, the John T. Macdonald Foundation, the Miami Coalition for the Homeless and others.  In Charlotte, she was a trustee at Queens and served on the boards of Crisis Assistance Ministry and WDAV.

She was close to 50 when she learned to scuba dive, snow ski and play tennis.  She also became an avid runner, and up until her 90^th year was still walking five miles at a 15-minute pace.  She was devoted to her exercise and eating well and was in good health and younger than her age almost to the end.  She joked about putting “I told you I was sick!” on her tombstone, but she actually never was.  She joked in Miami that she spent so much time in Publix, we should scatter her ashes across the aisles of the store, “preferably near the produce.”

Asked when she was happiest, she said when she was creating something of beauty, whether that was a home, a garden, a bouquet or her indescribable chocolate cake.

Jean is survived by her three children, Mark Batten and his wife, Margaret, of West Newton, MA; Laura Batten of Charlotte; and Taylor Batten and his wife, Lauren, of Charlotte.  She is also survived by six grandchildren, Caroline Batten, Annie Batten, Katie Batten, Lindsay Batten, Jamie Timko and James Batten II; as well as a beloved brother-in-law, Bob Batten and niece and nephews.  She was predeceased by her brother, Donnie, and her parents, John and Pearl Trueworthy.

The family thanks everyone at VIA Health Partners, Embrace and Southminster for their care, and wants her friends at Southminster to know how much she cared for them.

A memorial service will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, March 29, 2025, at Southminster, 8919 Park Road, Charlotte, NC.  The family will receive friends following the service.

In lieu of flowers, charitable gifts may be offered in memory of Jean to Crisis Assistance Ministry, 500-A Spratt St., Charlotte, NC 28206 or at https://crisisassistance.org/.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204; (704) 641-7606.  Online condolences may be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.