This photo is of our book club, including me, Jane, Peggy, Janice and Beth, taken in Jane's lovely yard in June 2016.
Jane thrived on the communities she was part of and on creating communities, often making them part of her own family. I have known Jane for over 35 years, she and John being acquainatances through mutual CT friends. She and John graciously opened their home to our family when we were making visits to Vermont to plan and arrange a move here in the early 80's. We became fast family friends and enjoyed many gatherings, birthdays, weddings, music events, etc both in Vermont and with our CT friends. Around 2003 Jane invited me to join in a small book club she was part of. Soon afterwards, we invited a mutual friend, Peggy, to the group.
I will be forever grateful to Jane for including me in the book group because, not only did I start reading for pleasure again, deepen and broaden my frienships with Jane and Peggy, I made two additional friendships with strong, creative, intelligent, generous and compassionate women/ mothers like them. Oh, and excellent cooks, all. (Yes we did discuss each book monthly, albeit proportionately more time MAY have been devoted to feasting and socializing).
The book club also became the unofficial wedding support team. Each of us has enjoyed contributing in some way to the success of the wedding for six of our daughters over the years, including Dreolin. We have served and cleaned at rehearsal dinners, grown flowers to specification, arranged flowers, helped with decorations, wedding dresses and bridal showers, shared supplies, acted as on-site support and overall mother of the bride emotional support, etc. etc. For me, this has been a unique joy and a gift, having been a lucky recipient.
I also have Jane to than for making sure we documented each book group in a photo, creating memories I will cherish even more now. Love to you dear Jane. My deepest condolences to all of John and Jane's beloved families, and most especially to John, Dreolin and Jane's cherished grandaughters, Riley and Gwendolyn.
