Jane W. Peak

10/21/1920 - 07/08/2025

Jane Peak died Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at her home in McLean, Virginia. She was 104 years old.

Born in New Haven, Connecticut, the daughter of Floyd Everett Worley and Ruth Potter Worley, Jane graduated from Connecticut College for Women in the class of 1942, which famously "came in with the blow and out with the draft." The "blow" was the Hurricane of 1938, which hit New London, Connecticut, with full force during her freshman week; the "draft" was wartime reality by the time she graduated.

On June 8, 1944, she married the love of her life, Paul Reed Peak, Jr, a newly minted ensign in the US Coast Guard; he then left for duty in a war-torn Mediterranean. They raised three children (Roger, Nicki, and Martha) and celebrated 70 years of marriage.

A life-long genealogist, Jane was an active member of seven genealogical societies, seven surname societies, five Scottish clan societies, 10 lineage societies and every New England state "first family" organization. Jane inculcated her passion for family history in her children and in-laws, and she and Paul filled 40+ boxes with family material at a time when genealogy required physically visiting libraries and research organizations nation-wide.

Jane left instructions for her body to be donated to medical research; in time, her ashes will be interred next to those of her beloved Paul in Arlington National Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington or the Navy-Marine-Coast Guard Residence Foundation in McLean, Virginia.