Jean was born near Meigle in 1920. She was said to be very light on her feet from the beginning. She started dancing classes at eight, and when the family moved to King St she attended Morgan Academy, entering many competitions. After school she went to Edinburgh and then London for ballet training, also learning Highland and national dancing.

Back home, she taught in the back room of her mother’s sub-post office in King Street, becoming a dance examiner in 1960. Meanwhile she went on trips to South Africa, Canada and USA. She was the founder of Dundee Ballet School and ran it for 25 years. The school attracted the world’s foremost performers to Dundee in the ‘40s. In the early ‘70s she suffered a stroke, eventually being confined to a wheelchair before she died at the age of 62.