Jean Farr

Born in Syracuse NY, Jean grew up in Chicago & NYC broadening her artistic abilities at The Art Institute & The Art Students League. She worked in the Empire State Building when she met and married Ed. Raising their 3 children in Rutherford NJ, Jean played an important role in their schools, founded a local museum of artifacts & history, mastered 8mm filmmaking, studied Mayan civilization, learned about health and nutrition, & owned a health food store. Her proudest accomplishment was the successful campaign to assure perpetuity of the NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, which demonstrated peaceful uses of atomic energy in the 1960's. Jean & Ed traveled extensively to Italy, Guatemala, Cuba, China & Fiji. In 1976 they retired to a small farm in Nelson BC, and she earned a degree in herbology. They moved to Victoria in 1984, where she trained as a lay counselor, joined the Jungian Society, created beautiful gardens, & enjoyed her grandchildren. Her 98 years were lived fully, in body, mind & spirit. Passionate about healthy living, nutrition, herbs & supplements, Jean also loved studying religion & spirituality, the universes, goddess mythology & psychology. She was open-minded, insightful & fascinated by intellectual conversations on unusual subjects. She excelled creatively, with a fondness for watercolour painting & memoir writing. She had a life-long spiritual curiosity & valued meditation, personal growth, learning & helping others & her family. To the very end of her amazing life Jean was witty, feisty, sassy, perceptive & determined to be seen and heard for who she was. Predeceased by husband Ed (Jo-Jo) & sister Beth. Survived by son Richard, daughters Cally (Doug) & Margo (Pam), grandchildren Shoshana, Dustin, Eli, great-step-grandchildren Liam & Esme. Much gratitude to Dr. Tess Hammett of Health Point, & the nurses, care aides & staff at James Bay Care Centre for their gentle, compassionate attention during Jean's final weeks. A remembrance celebration will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donation cheques may be mailed to Abkhazi Garden, 1964 Fairfield Rd, Victoria V8S 1H2 (tax receipt issued by TLC).