Jeanne Palm Woodward, a 59-year resident of Lexington, Massachusetts, died peacefully on Friday, January 5, 2024, with her family and caretakers by her side. She was born in 1935 in Manheim, Pennsylvania, to parents Herbert Ernest Palm and Alice Courtney Palm, both of New England heritage. She was a graduate of Albright College and received her master's degree in social work from Boston University. An only child, Jeanne chose to attend graduate school in Boston hoping to settle in an area where her parents would want to retire. In 1960, Jeanne married her loving husband Charles Woodward in a small church ceremony on Christmas Eve, and they enjoyed 63 years of an enduring marriage.

Throughout her career in social work, Jeanne devoted her time to helping others. She was a case worker for the New England Home for Little Wanderers providing services to unwed mothers, directed a day program for Tri-City Mental Health serving residents suffering from mental illness, and led the social work team at the Concord-Assabet School, a therapeutic residential school for teenage girls. She was most proud of her later work for Lutheran Social Services of New England where she directed the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program helping settle countless young people from other countries, most notably some of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan.

Jeanne was the devoted mother of Catherine Woodward Gill, her husband Mark Tully of Lexington, and Nathan Woodward, his wife Mary Woodward of Georgia, Vermont. She was also the beloved grandmother of Courtney, Danny, Matt, and Sarah Gill, and Sophie Woodward. A funeral service will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Monday, January 8, at Saint Paul Lutheran Church, 929 Concord Turnpike, Arlington, MA. Burial will be private at Westview Cemetery where she will be laid to rest next to her treasured granddaughter Courtney.

As a life-long social worker, Jeanne expressed her wish that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in her memory to  Lutheran World Relief, Oxfam, or to other charities supporting the marginalized or suffering of our world.