Jane Leifeste

Early Saturday morning Jane Lucinda Leifeste peacefully took her last breath, holding her beloved son Josh’s hand. Both Josh and her beloved son Charlie brought comfort and solace to Jane and all of us this past week, with Charlie knowing Jane needed an in-the-hospital-bed visit from his beloved border collie dog Carlos.

Jane survived two and one half years, long past her prognosis for lung cancer. Thank you, Dr. Mika Cline, for your expert care of our sister and the TLC of your staff at Texas Oncology. However, for this last week, the terminal processes of pneumonia and stroke were very swift and merciful.

Intensive care was most expertly managed by the sophisticated and gently compassionate staff of Austin’s St. David’s Hospital and Hospice Austin. The tender care given kept Jane comfortable. There was no struggle in the end.

Jane was born laughing, our aunt once said. She was born on New Year’s Eve 1944 with all the world celebrating. Born in the Brooklyn Naval Yard Hospital during World War II, Jane was the first child of our parents Doris Estelle Butt of Tottenham, Ontario, Canada and A. A. (Pete) Leifeste, Jr. of Texas, a methodist preacher’s son and architect.

It was a life well lived starting out in the Houston woods of Memorial with childhood summers spent in our Mother’s tiny hometown of Tottenham, then off to Texas Tech, New York City (in the 60s with her best friend, Suzy. Jane wrote a short story about that time called “The Hippy and the Stewardess.” Guess which one Jane was?!), then to San Francisco, the mountains of Colorado, the rainforest of the Olympic Peninsula, the rolling woods of Arkansas, then back to Texas to Dallas, Flower Mound, Texas Woman’s University and finally settling here in Austin.

Jane is survived by her sons Josh and Charlie Betts, her sister Ann and brother Mark and was predeceased by her sister Jean Marie. Jane was a devoted mother and aunt to many nieces and nephews and dogs along the way: Aquarius, Yodi, Doc, Corky, Lulu, Freckles, Easy Breeze and granddogs Carlos and Atlas.

Jane wrote short stories and was a lover of poetry and literature both with a capital L and with a little l as she was a voracious reader of mysteries.

She has been described as zen like, practicing Centuring Prayer at UUMC and attending Christ in the Desert Monastery in New Mexico whenever she got a chance. She loved the monks; we called them ‘her monks.’

Her friends of 65 plus years remember Jane’s gorgeous smile and her free spirit. Cheerful and happy, driving our old Hilman with the top down with her leg out the window laughing. The boy next door remembers Jane as hopelessly cute, a Gidget and full of energy. We siblings were in awe of our big sister, watching her having loads of fun as a teenager and following her many adventures in life!

A Dylan song reminds us of Jane in the lines:

She's got everything she needs, she's an artist

She don't look back

…She never stumbles, she's got no place to fall

…She wears an Egyptian ring, it sparkles before she speaks

…Bow down to her on Sunday

Salute her when her birthday comes.

Jane’s homeless ministry began in Dallas, setting up a library, one for the adults and one for the children recruiting both her young boys to help in the effort. Moving to Austin, at ARCIL, she created courses for adults with disabilities to navigate and achieve independent living. Upon retirement, her true mission in life besides Jane being the greatest Mom in the world, was realized by serving the unhoused at her beloved church University United Methodist where she was active in the Open Door Ministry for Austin’s unhoused, including the Fig Leaf Store, recruiting her family to sort clothes in the Fig Leaf attic, and leading a team of volunteers and family to produce year after year the Christmas party for families in need, with Santa in the guise of her son Josh one year and her nephew Colin another year dispersing Christmas stockings and Angel Tree gifts to the children.

Jane also served on the board of Micah 6 and created a ministry of volunteers at UUMC to serve the unhoused women of Austin who would come Tuesdays for lunch, support and fellowship. Retired Pastor John remembers, “Jane had a heart of gold. She was the closest thing to Mother Teresa, especially in her care for unhoused women. Truly.”

These past two weeks, our family has been blessed with the ministry of Pastor Teresa, Senior Minister of University United Methodist Church. Pastor Teresa came to the hospital the very day we told her about Jane. She went straight up to Jane’s son quietly offering her gentle spirit and words of comfort and solace. Pastor Teresa also gathered us around Jane as she anointed her and blessed her, offering us this sacred time to say our goodbyes. Bless you.

Jane’s family burial was June 19 in Castell where Jane joined her dear sister Jean.

The memorial service is Saturday, June 22 at 2 p.m. at Jane’s church, University United Methodist Church, 2409 Guadalupe, Austin. Parking is available in the surface lot (Platinum Parking Lot) on Guadalupe across from the church. The family request that memorials may be made to University United Methodist Church or to Micah 6 of Austin