Janet “Jean” Jones

Janet was known as “Jean” to her Western New York friends and family but was called “Jan” by her “adopted” family and friends when she moved to Tacoma, Washington and later to San Jose, California working as a bookkeeper. She was very active in her philanthropic sorority chapter, Kappa Theta, always rolling up her sleeves to raise money for worthy causes by organizing, cooking and selling tickets to annual events such as “The Old Bags Luncheon” where women’s purses (bags) were sold along with other donated items to raise money for local charities, St. Jude’s Hospital and The Ronald McDonald House in Sacramento, CA. At Christmas time, Jan wrote “Secret Santa letters” for the children in the area and then “Aunt Jean” would call and ask what our children wanted from Santa and would send them a letter that would arrive just before Christmas.

Jan’s favorite activity was cooking and she was a big fan of cooking shows like Lidia’s Italian Kitchen, Jacques Pepin and many others on public television. Born of Italian heritage, she often cooked family recipes passed down from her mother and older sister Ida and she enjoyed passing on her best recipes to friends and family. Her Italian “goulash” and Sicilian “caponata” were legendary and she often made large dishes to share with others at parties and events.

She is survived by her nieces and nephews; Jane Harper of Truro, MA, Robin Sinare of Erie, PA, Louis Sinare of Fredonia, NY, Judith McKim of Jerome, ID, Ronnie Scaccia of Westfield, NY, JoAnn Patterson of Portland, NY, Karen Sparks of Naples, FL, Don Harper of Peachtree City, GA, Rob Carroll of Seattle, Washington and Robert Carroll of Buffalo, NY.

She is also survived by Morgan Hyland and Lee Jacobsen of Lincoln, CA who were as close to her as any family could ever be including always spending the Christmas holidays together in Washington or Nevada. Cheryl Hyland was also an extended family member and moved in with Jan to provide care and allow her to stay living in her home during her last 8 months of life which was very important to her.

Burial will be in Portland Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, NY near her parents. Jean always talked of going “home” to the place she grew up, worked on the family farm and where she went to school.