Still Taking Flight
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Kayla Wolf
Team Luster
With one hand holding her head and the other grasping the bottom of a chrysalis, Jean Marquart tries to help as a monarch only partially emerges. Taking quick, short breaths, Marquart is panicked. “I’m almost positive he isn’t going to make it, but it’s amazing to watch him try,” she said.
At 87, Marquart, a widow, fills her days with purpose: a quilt repair in progress spreads across her living room, family photos line her walls and dozens of monarchs in various stages of metamorphosis sit in jars on her kitchen table.
Most mornings begin with a cup of coffee and a walk to church to pray the rosary. But in early September, she sent a text to her family group chat, including her seven children: “Things are changing, kids. I have 40 caterpillars.” The count eventually reached 55.
For the past eight years, each fall Marquart has tended to no more than 17 monarch caterpillars and released them for their migration to Mexico. This year’s cohort is her largest to date, and with devotion, awe and a few schedule adjustments, including missing some mornings of daily mass, she raised them.
Her home overflows with life from the hum of family visits to the presence of parish friends. The monarchs are only a fraction of the vitality in Marquart’s world.
In her home, life is still taking flight.
Jean Marquart, 87, releases monarch butterflies in her backyard in Union. This year, Jean raised 55 monarch caterpillars to release for their migration to Mexico. Jean has raised no more than 17 monarch caterpillars in the fall for the past eight years.
Jean walks past Saint Vincent’s Closet on her way to recite the rosary and attend daily mass. Most mornings, Jean walks to church, but this September her routine was interrupted by taking care of monarch caterpillars.
Immaculate Conception parish secretary Joanna Arneson, right, hugs Jean. While Jean drops off a donated quilt for the fall festival auction, she and Jean talk about Jean's butterflies and her involvement in the parish.
Jean reads and meditates during an hour and a half of adoration at the chapel in the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Jean's devotion includes regularly attending daily mass, doing church laundry and reading stories to first graders each week.
Photos of Jean's family fill her basement wall. Jean raised seven children and loves to gather her grandchildren and great-grandchildren for events and holidays.
Jean naps in the late afternoon at home. Jean walks a mile or two each day to attend mass and run errands and occasionally take an afternoon nap.
Jean opens windows in her bedroom. Jean lives on her own and fills her days with a quilting, sewing and keeping up with her family through phone calls, visits and text messages.
Jean and her daughter, Jennifer Marquart, look at butterflies as they dry their wings in the butterfly house on the kitchen table at Jean's home . Jennifer visits her mom to help with yard work and attend the fall church festival.
Jean reacts as a monarch struggles to emerge from a chrysalis. Taking quick, short breaths, Jean is panicked about the state of the butterfly. “I’m almost positive he isn’t going to make it, but it’s amazing to watch him try,” Jean said.
Jean tries to help a monarch butterfly emerge from a chrysalis. “I hate to loose them, but that is nature,” Jean said. “This is more emotion than I’m used to having.”
Jean helps a monarch butterfly find its way out of the butterfly house in her backyard. The first of 55 caterpillars Marquart raised this year appeared on a milkweed plant in her yard on August 30. At the end of September, only three unhatched chrysalises remained.
Jean releases monarch butterflies in her backyard. “Come on, shake those wings,” she said, as she encouraged the butterflies to fly and find food for their journey.
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