Joan S Lane

Why are fire engines red?

Well, newspapers are read, too…And two times two is four…Four times three is twelve…There are twelve inches in a ruler…Queen Mary was a ruler…Queen Mary was also a boat…Boats go in the water…Fishes go in the water…Fishes have fins…The Finns fought the Russians…Russians are red, and fire engines are always rushin'.

Our mother Joan taught us that. She also taught us Lewis Carroll's "The Jabberwock." That's who she was.

This unique combination of wit and whimsy was raised by a single mom school teacher in Watsonville. Joan tried to bring it to UC Berkeley, but that didn't work out. So, she went to San Francisco and got an office job with the Asia Foundation, newly established "to undertake cultural and educational activities on behalf of the United States Government in ways not open to official U.S. agencies."

After a few years of placing people in far flung posts, there was a hard to fill spot in Afghanistan. So she volunteered to go for two years: 1955-57.

While assigned to Kabul, she met Ralph Lane. Stateside, she married him, settled in San Francisco, and had two children. After a couple of decades of school rummage sales, PTA, and scout meetings, she sent the kids off to college. Joan set up an easel in one of their bedrooms and started taking painting lessons. Those oil paintings are in living rooms all over the planet. Her style was spontaneous, uncomplicated and honest. She revealed a genuine expression with a broad palette and easy brushwork.

The two kids - Margaret (Jack Colford) and Ralph (Ana Gonzalez-Lane) - produced six grandchildren - Andrew (Samantha Turret), Matthew (Megan O'Neil Colford), Sophie (Nick Gervais), John, Megan and Levon, two step-grandchildren - Christopher (Emma Stirling) and Timothy, and five great-grandchildren - James, Theresa, Patrick, Ella, and Joseph.

When Ralph retired from the University of San Francisco (USF), they downsized to a condo in Burlingame, started spending more time at the beach in Aptos, traveling the world and giving away a fortune. They started the The Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Social Thought and the Ignatian Tradition at USF with an emphasis on social concerns.

Among her many talents, Joan was unsurpassed socially. Although she and Ralph hosted countless dinners and cocktail parties with colleagues from academia and the foreign service, between the time that Ralph died in 2007 and Joan moved out of their condo over 10 years later, she had re-created an entire community who had never known him. In assisted living at the Trousdale she became the center of a devoted crowd. A few years back she got sick and had to spend five weeks in a skilled nursing facility before returning to the Trousdale. In that brief time, she had formed a new community at the skilled nursing facility.

Wherever the universe dropped her-Watsonville, Kabul, San Francisco, or Burlingame-she was in a good mood and brought others there.

How? By knowing how you get double petunia…

Well, a petunia is a flower like a begonia…And begonia is a meat like sausage…And sausage and battery is a crime…Monkeys crime trees…Trees a crowd…The rooster crowd and made a lot of noise…Your noise is on your face between your eyes…Ayes is the opposite of nays…A horse neighs when it has a colt, and if you go to bed with a cold, you could wake up with double petunia.

Thanks Mom.

There will be a Memorial Mass and Celebration of Life on Saturday, April 18 at 10:00am at St. John of God Parish, 1290 5th Avenue, San Francisco, reception to follow immediately in the Parish Hall. In lieu of flowers, please make a gift to the non- profit of your choice in Joan's memory.