Meredith Lavene

Meredith Lavene

Nov. 17, 1944 - Jan. 20, 2024

NAPA - Meredith Lavene died peacefully at home in Napa on January 20, 2024, from a myeloproliferative disease at the age of 79.

Meredith was born in New York City and grew up in Arcadia, CA. She received a BA and MA in Spanish from UC Riverside, a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) degree from the University of New Mexico, and a MS in Community Health Systems from UC San Francisco.

Blessed with spontaneity and always open to the possibilities of life, Meredith spent her junior year abroad in Spain during the Franco days, where leaving town on weekends was necessary to avoid the tanks rolling through the streets. She spent a year in Mismaloya, Mexico, as her father developed the property left behind from the filming of "The Night of the Iguana." This led to a love affair with Mexico which included regular visits, particularly to Puerto Escondido where she developed a coterie of friends.

She began her nursing career in Truchas, NM, providing medical care for the indigent, indigenous, and mainly Hispanic communities of Northern New Mexico for the National Health Services Corps. She also worked as a coronary RN at St. Vincent's Hospital in Santa Fe, and later as a FNP at the Las Cruces, NM, Family Planning Clinic.

Her son Dionicio was born at home in Truchas and her son Zach was born in Albuquerque. Meredith moved to Stockton, CA, in 1981, with her then husband, Mike Wilborn, and worked as a FNP and Clinical Manager for the Family Planning Clinic in Sonora, CA, and as a NP, primarily at the San Joaquin County Jail and Juvenile Hall, until her retirement. Beloved by both staff and inmates, she was Nurse Meredith to all. Her experience working at the jail led to an expertise in infectious diseases in custody facilities, and lectures on the subject in Thailand.

After moving to Napa in 2004, she became a Master Gardener and actively participated in community workshops and the training of new Master Gardeners until her death. Meredith loved live music and was the best dancer any of her friends knew. She regularly attended Grateful Dead shows and occasionally took backstage care of the children of the band and crew members during shows. She was an avid reader and a fan of tennis. She most loved tending to her garden.

Meredith is survived by her husband, Ron Abernethy; her son, Dionicio Siegel, his wife Sam and their two children: Hudson and Truxton; and her son, Zach Wilborn and his wife Cara.

Services will be private.

In lieu of flowers, she suggested a donation in her name to Planned Parenthood or Doctors Without Borders for those so inclined.