Jane Gurko

Jane Gurko From the time she was a small girl growing up in Manhattan, Jane Gurko dreamed of living in the country. On the evening of Nov. 29, 2010, Jane died quite suddenly in her Willits woodland home, Terpsichore, in the company of her closest friends. Jane was born in 1941 to Miriam Gurko (d. 1988) & Leo Gurko (d. 2008) both of whom were scholars & authors. Along with her older brother Steve (now living in Frisco, Colorado) Jane attended the Bronx High School of Science in which admission was based on academic examination. She went on to Smith College in Northampton, MA. Jane graduated in 1961 with honors in English & with a biology major as well. She chose U.C. Berkeley for graduate school. She selected English as her field of study, & completed her Ph.D. degree with a dissertation on D.H.Lawrence - although by then, the politics of lesbian-feminism, animal rights, & anti-nuclear work had clearly eclipsed literature as her priority. In 1967 San Francisco State University hired Jane & soon promoted her to a full professorship in the Dept. of English. In 1973 she joined three other faculty women to initiate a ground-breaking curriculum experiment that ultimately became SFSU's highly regarded Women Studies Dept. The first in a long series of health crises led Jane to take early retirement in 1997. By that time, she & a few close women friends had purchased land in Willits where they formed a women's cooperative landholding group. Jane finally had her home in the country. Jane Gurko was known for her commitment to helping women achieve their dreams. She served her community by volunteering at the Willits library & by sharing her considerable musical skill which had been honed over a lifetime. After retirement & settling down in Willits she sang & coached singers in many settings, including the original Emandal Chorale, the Eel River Singers, Ann McDonald/Post choral groups, the Bach Choir at Sonoma State University, & several women's barbershop quartets, After music, Jane's other passions were for her garden & for her work in the ceramics lab at Mendocino College. Jane is deeply missed by Sally Miller Gearhart, with whom she shared the relationship of a lifetime. She leaves her beloved godsons Daniel & Sam Sapoznick, the rest of her family-of-choice as well as a wildly diverse and entertaining community of friends. Jane had a talent for staying in touch; she thrived on good conversation; and she was genuinely interested in the thoughts and viewpoints of her friends. Jane Gurko's friends are invited to a community gathering to celebrate her life at the Methodist Church in Willits, January 8, 2011, 1:00 - 4:00 PM. Remembrances of Jane can be sent to her PO Box 1511, Willits 95490, to be included in the celebration of her life. People may, of course, make contributions to a charity of their choice in Jane's honor.