Dr. Jeanne is a native of the Nebraska Sandhills.  She lived in a sod house until she was 6.  In 1940 the Leach family moved from Arthur County to the ranch south of Johnstown that Jeanne will always think of as “back home.”  During World War II she and her parents, Bert and Dagmar Leach, ran the ranch by themselves.  Jeanne was a part of almost every cattle drive from the time she was seven until she left home.  During haying season beginning at eight years of age, her job was to drive stacker team which meant handling two huge work horses.   The summer she was 16 she spent each day riding the ranch’s pastures to check windmills, fence lines, cattle and horses.  She was a true cowgirl. 

Following her junior year in High School, Jeanne and her best friend went to work in Yellowstone National Park.  There she met Ken Hounshell; they fell in love and spent two summers together before Jeanne returned to Nebraska and college. 

           At Nebraska Wesleyan University, she met Jack Buckingham and at the end of her sophomore year they were married in her beloved Sandhills.  She received her bachelor’s degree in 1963.  She and Jack had four children, six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. 

            Dr. Hounshell taught school in both Odell and Lincoln, Nebraska.  In 1976 Jack and Jeanne moved with their family to Boulder, Colorado where they taught.  In 1970 Jack and Jeanne purchased a cabin on Tahosa Ranch near Meeker Park.  It became their Christmas place, their haven and sometimes their year-round home. 

Jack and Jeanne moved to Gunnison, CO in 1978 where they owned and operated the KOA Kampground. They graduated together from Los Angeles College of Chiropractic in April 1986 when they were both in their 50’s.  That was a day filled with joy and pride.  Soon afterward Jack began to show signs of Parkinson’s Disease and his health deteriorated quickly.  Jeanne took care of him as long as she possibly could.  Jeanne practiced Chiropractic in Boulder and in Denver, Colorado.

            In November 2001, Jeanne received a phone call from Ken.  They had not met for 47 years.  With him came a love that “knocked her socks off,” a dream come true and the story for her first published novel, “This Precious Love”.   It contains a great deal of history from the sod house to a president’s inauguration.  But it is truly about their love:  this love, this precious love that has come again to them in their autumn years.  Jeanne is also a contributor to several volumes of poetry. 

            Last year Jeanne helped start a creative writing group in Yuma: Write on the Edge. They were helpful in a multitude of ways with Becoming Bestemor.

            Jeanne’s latest book BECOMING BESTEMOR, a biohistorical novel about her grandparents has just been published.  THIS PRECIOUS LOVES is the sequel and begins where Becoming Bestemor ends.

            Now Ken and Jeanne live their dream.  They spend their winters in the warmth of the Arizona desert and their summers in their cabin in Colorado and traveling. They square dance, play bridge, read, hike, bicycle and travel.  Jeanne writes in these beautiful spots that she and Ken call home.