Obituary of Annette Kjeer Jeffery

MARIE ANNETTE KJEER JEFFERY 1941-2024 Marie Annette Kjeer Jeffery was born Marie Annette Smith to Charles Roland Smith and Sarah Marie Smith on December 30th, 1941 in Springfield, Illinois. Both parents were descendants of Central Florida pioneer families of Polk, Hillsborough, and Sumter Counties beginning in the 1850’s. She was the first of three children. Annette moved with her family to Tampa in late 1942 where her father became an Ironworker during World War II. Employment moved the family to Virginia and North Carolina in the late 1940’s. The Smith family moved back to Tampa in 1954. Annette grew up in the era before television. She would gather with family around the radio and listen to programming. She and her younger brother Charles, Jr. enjoyed going to local cinemas to watch serial western movies popular in the 1940’s and 1950’s.Among her childhood heroes were, of course, Roy Rogers , Gene Autry, Red Ryder, and The Lone Ranger, who were the perennial good guys helping to fight evil villains. She also loved to go fishing and swimming on family outings. She was quite active with the Methodist Youth Fellowship (MYF) in the 1950’s. Annette graduated from Hillsborough High School in Tampa in 1959 and attended Tampa Business College in 1959-1960. Annette married Neil Egon Kjeer in 1959. Her first child April was born on Easter Sunday in 1960, her second child Timothy was born in 1970, both in Tampa. During the 1960’s and 1970’s Annette was employed in various clerical and secretarial positions in Tampa, rising rapidly to Executive Secretary for American Pecco U.S. Corporate Headquarters in Tampa, where she remained for a number years. Her husband’s promotion interrupted her career caused by a move to North Florida. The Kjeer family moved to Macclenny nearer to Neil’s employer, Seacoast Railroad. Annette started all over again by working at the Senior Center of Baker County Council on Aging. She had found her niche in life. She always had a passion for elderly people and took great delight in helping them solve problems related to aging. The job enabled her to become a quite successful advocate for Senior Citizens. Annette was subsequently promoted to the Area Agency on Aging in the 1980’s. Highly intelligent, talented and efficient, she used her insight and excellent communication skills to great effect for helping improve the lives of elderly people specifically, but not limited to, Northeast Florida. Her dogged determination, excellent skills coupled with a winning personality were among the many reasons she became Director of the Area Agency on Aging for Northeast Florida. She continued to do excellent work in spite of numerous family tragedies. Her family moved to Jacksonville to be closer to medical facilities because her daughter was suffering from the ravages that come with Juvenile Diabetes. April eventually succumbed to the maladies that so often accompany Juvenile Diabetes at age 28. A few years later, her husband Neil passed away due to a long illness followed by her son Timothy’s untimely death. Years later her second husband Tom passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer. Most recently, her brother Charles Jr. died of complications of Alzheimer’s in 2018. Through all these trials Annette not only kept her faith, but was strengthened by them. The world was certainly a better place with her in it, and is certainly a lesser place without her. Annette is survived by a brother, Curtis Smith of Bradenton, Florida and two grandchildren, Alyxie and Megan Kjeer, both of Jacksonville, Florida. In Lieu of flowers please make donations to the Juvenile Diabetes Association at JDRF.ORG