GILL — After a body floated to the surface in a popular kayaking spot in Barton Cove, family members of a man who is thought to have committed suicide have little doubt that the body is that of their husband and father who apparently jumped from the French King Bridge last month.
Police came to Jan Jee Bean’s door in Greenfield in the late morning Tuesday to talk about her husband, John Bean, a former Greenfield public works superintendent who abandoned his car on the nearly 140-foot bridge, which is a spot notorious for suicide attempts.
Bean’s wife said that her husband’s clothes matched the description of the clothes on the recovered body.
“I don’t have any questions about whether that’s my husband that they found, and my daughters don’t have any questions, but we don’t have a death certificate yet,” said Jan Jee Bean. Before the apparent suicide she watched her husband of more than 30 years suffer with anxiety and depression.
An official identification of the body by the medical examiner could take days to weeks, said spokeswoman Mary Carey from the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.
Before police knocked on their door, the Bean family found out about the body that surfaced in the Connecticut River by word of mouth and television news. The medical examiner will use dental records to make an official identification in the coming days, said Ms. Bean.
In a memorial service for Bean about a week ago in Greenfield, friends and family remembered him as an environmentalist, a loving father and a dedicated public servant.