Jane E.M. Holt

I was very moved and saddened when I learned of dear Jane's premature passing. She was a wonderfully kind and generous friend to me for about four years when we were coming of age in our early twenties in the Boston area. We even became roommates, and I was a bridesmaid in her wedding to her beloved Sam. I first met Jane in early 1968 in Newton, MA, at the place where we both worked, Education Development Center. When she learned that I lived only a few blocks away from her in nearby...

Jane and I swam a thousand miles together as members of the Cleveland Swim Club -- she was a year older, but we were close friends. She was always strong, always smart, always a bit maternal -- loving and supportive.

The last time I saw Jane, our daughers (both Harvard students) were running the same Boston marathon. We stood together and waited for the girls to pass by a spot near my home on Heartbreak Hill --- and we caught up with thirty years gone by.

I...

In remembering Mrs. Holt I find it so consoling to know that if I could leave this world a better place as she did -- with three wonderful daughters and years of good work -- I would leave happily and satisfied.

Jane's eldest daughter Elliott is one of my closest friends from college, and on several occasions I have met Lizzie and Katie -- all three are extraordinary women. I know without a doubt it is because they had an extraordinary mother.

Samuel & family,

You don't know me, nor did Jane, yet I know of you all through a common friend, Mary Davis. On the other side of the world as I am, in the walled Old City of Jerusalem, please know that Jane's radiance reached thus far, through many a story shared in hushed reverence. Sister Justina repeatedly prayed for Jane at the Syrian Orthodox Church, the site of St Mark's mother's house, with considerable archeological evidence said to be where the Last Supper was...

Jane was my 2nd cousin. She used to babysit me, my sister, Jane, and my two brothers, Jim & Bob. We had so many wonderful times together and especially enjoyed getting together at the Ohio Edison picnics and riding the roller coasters. It was always a special treat to go over to Merriman Road and spend the afternoon with the Mansfields. We always felt so welcome and will always treasure those fondly remembered days of so long ago. My sister, Jane, was a junior bridesmaid in Jane and Sam's...

Jane made me feel safe in strange and scary places. When she looked at Elliott she showed me that she loved Elliott deeply and knew her intimately. She made me believe that I could do anything without fear or pain. She completed extraordinary acts as if they were ordinary and within the ordinary saw the extraordinary. Elliott talked about her thumbing Katie's birthday skirt saying repeatedly, "beautiful" and about her cherishing Lizzie and Willie's new marriage. I will strive to see half as...

Jane was my friend from Whitman Hall in college. After graduation in 1966 she and I traveled to Greece and lived there for a year, teaching Greek secondary school students in Thessaloniki. We met up in Venice, Jane having picked up a red Volkswagen bug in Germany. I remember the joy I felt when she arrived: she was so cheerful and so able even in unfamiliar envoironments. We had so many adventures that year. I'll never forget her teaching me how to use the stick shift in that little car, or...

I met Jane in Moscow where I was fortunate to be a guest at many of her dinner parties. The gatherings were typical of Jane; lively, warm and welcoming, and an oasis from the dark Russian winters. I will miss Jane very much, but she will continue to be my role model.