Our beautiful, always smiling, wife, sister, mother and grandmother left us too early from a sudden and unexpected death. She loved her family so much and was completely devoted to them. We are devastated at this time but we can all see her beautiful, smiling face and telling us, “It will be alright, be happy, live a great life. I will always love you.” And so, we will because of her.
Jane was born in Corvallis, Oregon to Jim and Millie Oldfield and was the 4th of five children. She graduated from Corvallis High and Oregon State and contributed to the OSU Alumni Association throughout her life.
She has been a resident of Willow Glen since 1983 and loved everything about Willow Glen. After a career in radio advertising, she became a full-time mom and while involved in Leslie and Shannon’s school, she became an Art Vista teacher and then a science teacher at Booksin elementary. That provided a spark to get a teaching credential (long nights of study after the children were in bed, weekends sacrificed for classes and tests) but she did it. She began her career at Greystone Elementary and then on to Bret Harte Middle School. She loved every second of a very challenging career but her optimism and dedication to motivating her students and creating ways in which each one could actually enjoy learning new things set her apart. She was respected, admired and absolutely loved by her students and those feelings were mutual.
After her retirement, it was not unusual for kids that she hadn’t seen in more than 10 years approach her while we were walking in downtown Willow Glen and ask her, “do you remember me? I recognized you by your smile.” And, of course, she did remember them and even shared funny and touching memories about those students as well as their brothers or sisters. Her students absolutely loved everything about her. Once, when her own children were young and in elementary school each one of them told her, “Gosh mom, it’s so embarrassing,all the kids at Booksin just think you’re the greatest!”
In recent years, she volunteered her time to The Thrift Box on Lincoln Ave. in Willow Glen. She was looking forward to getting to know so many more of her fellow volunteers and enjoyed everyone she met and worked with at The Box.
She was a wonderful mother and wife. She indulged her husband Pat’s interests and joined in most of the mand he returned the same to her. She helped him appreciate the art and music she so loved. The longest they were ever separated was only a week when Pat took the annual “boys only” fly fishing trips into the high Sierra mountains with family members. Jane and Pat were so fortunate to travel to Italy twice where she fulfilled her life-long dream to see Michelangelo’s masterpiece,David, in Florence. When her beautiful blues eyes gazed upon it for the first time, she wept. Trips to Oahu, Maui and Kauai were some of their favorites but all were topped by traveling to Fairbanks, Alaska for her first grandchild’s birth and eventually taking that grandson,Jesse, to Disneyland for his first time was a highlight of their life as was their trip to Florida for granddaughter Audriana’s birth. A wonderful trip to Iowa (Pat’s mother’s birthplace) for a mini-family reunion hosted by Pat’s cousin Debbie (Joe) was perfect. Trips to the central Oregon coast rekindled Jane’s childhood memories by reuniting with her wonderful Oregon, Vancouver BC and DC family members as well as spending time on the beach at Salishan.
In her immediate family, Jane is survived and will be missed beyond words by her husband, Pat, daughters Leslie Christine and her children Jesse, 10, Audriana, 7,daughter Shannon (Jose), sisters Nancy (Doog), Kathy (Steve), brothers Dave (Merilee) and Dick (Karen). She also is survived by her brother-in-law Mike (Jayne) and Pat and Mike’s first cousin Jan (Sam). There are also many nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.
A Celebration of Life honoring this wonderful woman will be held on Saturday, 11am, April 13th, 2024 at Lima Family Erickson Memorial Chapel, 710 Willow St, San Jose, CA 95125. Our family encourages teachers and students that knew Jane to attend, if possible. Our family also knows Jane would want everyone to consider not wearing the color black as she would want everyone to be comfortable and wear any color in the rainbow. And if you knew Jane, she would love to have children of all ages join this celebration of her life.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation gift to:
San Jose Auxiliary for Children, benefiting Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital - in remembrance of Jane Oldfield.
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