(Marilyn) Jane Gardner Crew (“Janey” and “Blue Eyes” to her family) was born in Denver, Colorado, to Joseph Edgar and Edith Josephine Gardner on April 11, 1930. Jane’s very young years were spent on the family farm in Otis, Colorado, where her parents hosted summer programs for troubled city kids. PBS did a documentary on the program, called “The Fresh Air Fund.” As many farming families during the Depression, the little family was forced to pack up the Model A Ford to travel from Colorado to Oregon and back again, staying with family and friends to make ends meet. Jane’s parents were extremely kind and compassionate people, giving to others in need during those hard years, and Janie never forgot to live by their example: she would always be willing and able to offer help to friend or family member in need. But heartbreakingly, while the family was living with maternal grandmother Nana in Denver, Janey’s mother was taken from her at the tender age of 5 by uterine cancer. Jane and her dad traveled back to Oregon to spend much of their time on Uncle John Gardner’s farm in Salem during those sad years after her mother’s death. Janey became ‘the little mother” staying home to care for their small upstairs apartment while her father worked— copying down in a childish hand important recipes like “how to make hot chocolate”.

Jane grew up during the Depression and came of age during the 1940s, the war years when strong, independent and capable women in the movies like Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis were her idols. Katharine Hepburn was an especially favorite. Jane always prided herself on being a strong practical and capable woman too. After graduating from Salem High School in 1948, she did office work to put herself throgh school, as one of the first women in her family to earn a college degree. She graduated from Oregon College of Education in 1952. That was followed by her first teaching job as a third grade school teacher in Willamina, Oregon, which inspired her to go on to do grad work at U of O. with a focus on remedial reading.

The summer before attending U of O Jane got a job waitressing at Crater Lake Lodge, where she met a bellhop, “a character from Oberlin college named John Crew who pestered her with crazy questions!” — and there ensued many intellectual discussions around the campfire. John also wooed her by writing silly limericks about her, and staging an adaptation of a Gilbert & Sullivan production where she apparently sang one of the lead numbers “I’m Called Zanie Janie” to the tune of “I’m Called Little Buttercup”.

Jane and John were married in August of 1954 in Eugene, honeymooning in John’s old army pup tent while attending the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. And true to her strong and independent nature, it was a great source of pride to be able to pay back her stepmother every last penny of the $50 borrowed for the wedding in record time. Jane and John lived in student housing at the University of Oregon while finishing their postgraduate work in education and history, respectively. After graduation, they moved to Richland, Washington, to teach the children of scientists recruited for the Handford project. There Jane taught first and sixth grades while John taught high school in quonset huts left behind by the military. After a few years, the couple had their first daughter, Karen. A few years later the family moved to Beaverton, Oregon, for John’s new high school position. There they had their second daughter, Pam, and Jane taught Sunday school at the local Methodist church. In 1963, the family moved to a beautiful old Craftsman house in Aberdeen, Washington — a delight for the girls who loved to peel the paint from the window sills and the wax in strips from the floors, challenging Jane’s best attempts to keep a tidy home. In the big farmstyle kitchen, Jane baked cherry and cinnamon rolls with the girls’ help. Jane wrangled her two girls those happy early years, leading a Blue Bird troop as her mother had been a Campfire leader before her. In 1967 the family moved to the home in Central Park where Jane and John lived the next 50 years. For the most part they were inseparable, always working side by side, and the house is a testament to their independent DIY mindset. By his side each year up through John’s 87th year, together they painted their house, made bookcases, shelves, tables, vanities, entertainment centers, telephone desks, picture frames and paper towel holders. Jane, having inherited her father’s excellent carpentry skills, turned out many professional projects. Jane, also like her mother, was an amazing seamstress, sewing her own wedding dress, most of her girls’ dance/theatrical costumes and teaching them the joy of sewing their own clothes. After the girls were older, Jane returned to the workforce as film clerk at the downtown Aberdeen library, a special ed teacher, aide and substitute in the Aberdeen school system. And finally, she provided patient, compassionate and loving caregiving to her own father, Joe Gardner; John’s dad, Jarvis; and her aunt Elsie before they passed.

Family was the center of her life as a devoted daughter, wife and mother, and yet also, strong, capable, independent, and practical, we found among her writings pamphlets for careers in forestry among other things. She and John both loved the outdoors, camping and hiking, and the family spent every summer camping in national forests.

Jane passed from this world on Aug. 18, 2019, finally reunited with her mother and husband John, embraced in love by her daughters and grandsons in the sweet cozy room where she was blessed to spend her final year in daughter Pam’s home. Pam, Karen and the caregivers who were like cherished friends — Nancy, Michelle, Kayla and Wendy — were all honored to care for this woman who grew sweeter and more childlike toward the end. Blessing us with smiles of delight, she had forgotten all the hardships of her life but she never forgot who we were. Thank you Mom, for the gift of You. We love you.

Jane was preceded in death by her beloved husband, John, in 2016. She is survived by her daughters: Karen Crewe of Bellevue and Pamela Erickson (Ken) of Aberdeen; grandchildren Joseph Crewe-Sullam, Sam Crewe-Sullam, Rebecca Sowders (Ben), Daniel Erickson (Amanda), James Erickson; two great-grandsons, Evan and Eric Sowders. A celebration of life service will be held at a later date due to family obligations. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St Jude’s Children’s Hospital —that children should not be parted from their parents was very important to her.