Dr. Jeanne Yorke was born on November 23, 1947 in La Cresenta, California.  She grew up in La Cresenta where she enjoyed the outdoors - climbing trees and telephone poles; shining her spiffy car; going on hikes and walks with her dad; playing at the beach with her cousins; and singing in the choir at school.  She graduated from Crescenta Valley High School in 1965.  

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A friend in high school wrote in her yearbook, “Jeannie - I just don’t know what to say.  You leave me speechless.  Really, you have a very vibrant personality, so don’t ever lose it,” and she didn’t lose it, the lady you met as an adult, is the same vibrant person she was as a child.

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Jeanne met her first husband, Fred Nolten, in 1967, just before he entered the military.  At the time, she was working in Michigan as the Director of Youth and Evangelism and attending Reform Bible Institute.  Jeanne and Fred married and spent a stint in Georgia before settling back in California. 

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When they returned to California, she and Fred married in 1970 and from that union had two wonderful children, Shelly Jean John and Theresa Marie Nolten-Horne. Without question, the two contributions to this world of which she was the most proud, were her daughters.  When the girls were young, Jeanne and her family spent many years enjoying camping, boogie boarding at the beach, and biking.

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Jeanne realized that she enjoyed helping people to become their best self and knew she had a skill to help people to recover from any tragic event in their life.  She had a gift to be able to connect to people on a soulful level.  Although Jeanne had struggled in school as a youngster and did not have confidence in her learning abilities; she pushed through with her tenacious spirit and went on to receive her bachelor’s degree, then her master’s degree, and ultimately her doctorate in 1993 from the Newport Psychoanalytic Institute (NPI).

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Jeanne found her tribe at NPI where she developed deep friendships with other analysts and meaningful connections with her supervisees.  She embraced her learning challenges and broke the confines of self-doubt to succeed as a psychoanalyst and well regarded clinician.  These were some of the best years of her life.  She was proud to be associated with NPI and her engaging, funny, loud personality shined.

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In 1990, she married Richard Yorke, their union was most notably marked by their many travels around the world.  Jeanne’s largest smiles can be seen in photographs of these trips.   In Jeanne’s life, she visited countless places, Jordan, many European countries, Africa, and New Zealand to name a few.   Jeanne was an active scuba diver and enjoyed seeing all that God had created on land and under the sea.

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Some of Jeanne’s best trips were taken with her youngest daughter, Theresa.  The two had similar passions for travel and created many wonderful memories together.  Theresa always speaks fondly about their crazy adventures and the memories she will carry with her forever.

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One of Jeanne’s most meaningful trips was to Africa in 2007 where she volunteered in a clinic to fight HIV/AIDS stigma and discrimination.  In Zanzibar, she met with people who were living with AIDS and tried to give them hope.  She also volunteered at an orphanage where she loved to spend time with the young children.

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The one child she has loved the most in this world, is her granddaughter, Hayden.  Jeanne’s heart and face would light up every time she saw Hayden.

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Her family were not the only ones to benefit from the greatness of this woman - she literally saved and changed the lives of the hundreds of patients she treated over the years.  Her engaging, down to earth, no nonsense style, which lacked judgment and oozed confidence, brought people out of their well-crafted shells.  She truly helped people to heal from the deep wounds that they thought would stifle themselves forever.

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Despite her many ailments and challenges to her health over the years, Jeanne never stopped living and loving.   She was the most alive when she was “on the hill” - the fond reference to her office on the hill in Fullerton.  Working with her patients gave her reason to soldier on in the tough times.  She had even seen patients the week that she passed away.

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Jeanne shared a deeply connected relationship with her daughter, Shelly.  They could talk for hours and days at a time and still call each other on the  drive home.  The deeper the conversations, the more energized they both were.

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Jeanne was married for the last time in 2002.  To her, this relationship was part of a life contract from which she needed to learn and grow.   Despite the challenges, Jeanne believed this relationship was meant to be and did not end it until 2019.

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In the last year of Jeanne’s life, she greatly appreciated the help and friendship of her roommate, Maranda.  Without Maranda’s help managing Jeanne’s ailments and household, Jeanne would not have been able to enjoy a free and full life, right to the end.

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Jeanne’s tenacity, vigor for life, sense of humor, and “Can Do It” attitude live on through each of you.  We are all better people for having been in a relationship with her.  The greatest way to honor Jeanne’s memory is to live your best life.  Give yourself grace and live without judgment of yourself and of others.  Know that she believed in you for a reason.  Take her love and magnify it in the world.

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​Jeanne is predeceased by her parents, John and Helen Ornee.  She is survived by her two daughters, Shelly Jean John, and Theresa Marie Nolten-Horne;  brother, John Robert Ornee; granddaughters, Hayden McKenna Nolten-Horne, and Hunter Loren Hopkins. She is also survived by many other family members, close friends, and dear clients.