Jeane Dortch Bruton

Victor - Jeane Dortch Bruton, 76, passed away from natural causes at St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula on Thursday, February 6, 2025. There will be no formal services.

Jeane was born in the autumn of 1948, in Paris, Tennessee, the third daughter of Lee Batson Dortch and Betty Hinson Dortch. She attended school at Mulberry Hill Elementary School, Dover Elementary, and Stewart County High School where she was a cheerleader and played trumpet in the school band.

After high school, Jeane enrolled in Austin Peay State University where she earned her B.S. degree in Elementary Education.

In March of 1969, she married John T. Bruton and shortly thereafter, they were off to Germany for J.T’s yearlong tour of duty with the U.S. Army. After Germany, they returned home to Stewart County, Tennessee, and J.T. continued his studies at Austin Peay State University where he earned his bachelor’s degree.

The next year found them in Charleston, South Carolina where J.T. was enrolled in pharmacy school at the University of South Carolina. After three years in South Carolina and a trip to explore the western U.S., they moved to Missoula, Montana where J.T. completed his studies in pharmacy at the University of Montana. J.T. then began working at Downing Pharmacy in Hamilton.

After a couple of years of various odd jobs in Missoula, a teaching position opened, and Jeane was hired to teach grade one at Hawthorne Elementary School.  Several years later when Bill Downing retired, J.T. and Jeane bought the business and changed the name to Hamilton Pharmacy. They then bought land in Victor and began building their home there.

Jeane taught at Hawthorne from the early 80’s to 2005 when she retired to care for her mother and to assume more duties at their pharmacy and gift shop in Hamilton. After J.T.’s retirement and the sale of the pharmacy, Jeane continued with the gift shop until the Covid epidemic, at which time she retired. This allowed her to spend more time in her garden and hunting and fishing with J.T., friends, and family.

Jeane is survived by two sisters, Marilyn DeSalvo and Carolyn Dortch; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Sondra and Bill Cherry; nephew and wife, Clay and Katie Cherry; niece and husband, Melissa and Robert Parker; nephew Galen Bruton Jr.; and niece and husband, Brandy and  Sammy Balthrop; as well as several great nieces and nephews.

Jeane was predeceased by her husband J.T; her parents, Lee and Betty Dortch; her mother and father-in-law, Charles S. and Mildred Bruton; and her brother and sister-in-law, Charles G. and Barbara Bruton.