On Aug. 24, 2020, Jeanne H. Hawley passed from this life with a smile on her face and ready to start her new adventure.
She was born Jan. 6, 1920, in Detroit to Eugene and Eleanor (Marquardt) Hatheway. Her brother, Gilbert “Gibby,” was born almost two years later. She graduated from Wayne State University, where she received her teaching degree with an emphasis in English. She joined the Red Cross near the end of WWII and was deployed in Europe.
In 1946, she married Arthur Scott Hawley, with Rev. Robert M. Frehse of Westminster Presbyterian Church officiating. Mr. Frehse was one of the most influential people in her life. He was responsible in great part for her spiritual, social and politcally liberal education, as well as her love of nature. Summers were always spent at Camp Westminster first as a camper and later as a counselor.
She and Art moved to Bakersfield, Calif., in 1947, where Art was employed as a petroleum geologist. Their son, Fred, and daughter, Carolyn, were both born there. In 1953, the family moved to Sacramento, Calif., where, in 1959, Jeanne put to use her teaching degree.
In 1954, Jeanne’s long association with Lake Almanor began with the purchase of a lakefront lot. She delighted in doing things that people thought she couldn’t or that were out of the ordinary. In 1956, she built a garage on the lot. She even built an outside solar-heated shower out of a hot water heater core and an outhouse out of a refrigerator carton. For the next two summers, she and the kids lived in the garage while work was started on the cabin. Each summer the day school let out, she would pile the kids and dog into the station wagon and head for the lake. There they would remain until the day before school started. Art would come up most weekends and often brought building supplies when he came.
In 1963, Jeanne divorced Art and 10 years later married Jim Lytjen, a teacher at Lassen Community College in Susanville, Calif. In 1974, Jeanne retired from teaching and moved to Susanville (only 35 miles from Lake Almanor). Jeanne and Jim later divorced but remained close friends until Jim’s death in 2019.
In 2000, Jeanne moved to Lewiston, for four years, then returned to Chester, Calif., in the Lake Almanor basin (do you see a pattern here?). In 2008, she made a permanent move to Moscow, to be closer to Carolyn.
It is important for you to understand there were two sides to Jeanne. The private Jeanne was raised in a strict, predominantly German home. This Jeanne was businesslike, formal, strong in her opinions (which she wasn’t afraid to share), and just one tough cookie. The public Jeanne was gregarious, fun-loving, adventuresome and willing to try new things and new ideas. She was always impeccably dressed, even down to her matching shoelaces and barrettes! She enjoyed flying kites, blowing bubbles, knitting, playing Scrabble, rock collecting, belly dancing and creating stained glass works. She designed the patch for her Eagle Lake Audubon chapter in California. She was a voracious reader, especially all things poetic, scientific or consciousness expanding. She was very spiritual but not religious. Jeanne’s “religion” was nature, where she found peace. She thoroughly enjoyed the liberation of the 1960s.
Since coming to the Palouse, she aligned herself with the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Palouse. She had many friends in the church and enjoyed her interactions with them and their acceptance of her. Besides her UUCP friends, she very much enjoyed her Scrabble days with Donna Vincenti, visits and applesauce from Diana Moss and Mary Needham, and blissful massages from Belinda Rhodes! A special thank you to all of the CNAs at Good Sam who lovingly care for her and, at times, tolerated her, especially at this incredibly difficult time of COVID-19.
Jeanne is survived by her son, Fred Hawley; his children, Anne Lomeli, and her children, Jake Williamson and Mallory (Williamson) Edmark; Angela Brock and her son, Eddie; Jackson Dunning-Hawley; Sara (Dunning-Hawley) Salinda and her children, Lola Kitchell, Remy Salinda and Scarlet Salinda. Jeanne is also survived by her daughter, Carolyn (Hawley) Ferguson, and her children, Eliza (Ferguson) Jeong, and her daughter, Logan Jeong; and Will Ferguson. She is also survived by her nieces, Sue Hatheway and Jan Hatheway Walker, and “step-daughter” Catherine (Hawley) Gardiner.
Because of the pandemic, there will be no memorial service at this time. Please contact Carolyn (sevensprings7s@yahoo.com) for information about plans for a future memorial.
If you should feel compelled to make a donation to a worthy cause in her name, please be sure it is a liberal one. She would be horrified to think a right-wing conservative would benefit from her death! That is just the way Jeanne was.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Short’s Funeral Chapel of Moscow and condolences may be left at www.shortsfuneralchapel.com.
