Jean McConville Payne
- Published: April 10, 2026
Jean McConville Payne passed away unexpectedly April 1, 2026, at the age of 70, due to complications from vascular dementia.
Born June 17, 1955, in Tucson, Arizona, she was one of three children — with her twin sister, Kay, and younger sister, Lynn — born to John and Mildred McConville.
Jean moved to Yellow Springs with her family when she was 3, in 1958, for her father’s position as a researcher at Antioch College. She graduated from Yellow Springs High School in 1973 and received her BFA from Wright State University in 1989. Jean married Steve Payne in 1993.
She retired in 2012 from Wright State University’s Boonshoft School of Medicine’s Lifespan Health Research Center, where she worked for 22 years with the Fels Longitudinal Study.
In the 1980s, Jean instructed the Yellow Springs 4-H Sewing Club, and in the 1990s, she and her husband routinely chaperoned Boy Scout campouts. She was a long-time volunteer for the local Yellow Springs Cable Access Channel 5 and an active member of the Yellow Springs Historical Society, contributing to the historical society with artwork and by cataloging their collections. She also updated the Miami Township cemetery database. Jean and her husband also volunteered at the Dayton Art Institute, and she enjoyed taking road trips to visit Ohio’s local attractions.
Jean is survived by her husband, Steve Payne; daughter, Shayna McConville; son, Eric McConville (Nikki); and step-daughter, Lauren Payne (Corey Johnson); her grandchildren, Lux McConville, Theo McConville, Oren Johnson and Milla Johnson; her sisters, Kay Reimers and Lynn McConville; and she is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, extended family and close friends.
The family has designated the Dementia Society of America for any donations in memory of Jean. Jean will be buried near her parents in Yellow Springs, and there will be a celebration of life at a time and place the family will announce in the Yellow Springs News.
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