Jeanette Alison Mayer

Jeanette Mayer passed peacefully on December 20th, surrounded by her loving family, in Walnut Creek, California. Commonly known as Jan, she was preceded in death by her husband Richard John Mayer in 1985 and her sister Gillian in January, 2013. Jan is survived by her two sons, James Mayer and Christopher Mayer, along with Chris' wife Patricia and their two children, Melanie and Jacob.

Jan was born to William and Beatrice Dodge in pre-World War II England, and raised in Leicester on the outskirts of London. She often told stories of her memories as a child of fleeing night-time bombardments by the Germans to local shelters, with her family at her side as her father was a police chief who guided villagers to safety.

After finishing her schooling in England in the late 1950's, Jan, along with her childhood friend, Ann Ross, moved to the United States to attend nursing school in Galveston, Texas. Upon receiving degrees as Registered Nurses, each came west, Jan to San Francisco, and Ann, to Seattle. Both remained close and dear friends, as both visited and stayed in contact all the while.

Jan would meet Richard Mayer soon after moving west, and the two married in March of 1962, and moved to Fairfax, in Marin County. Jan would eventually decide to leave the nursing practice while raising her two sons and transitioned into the healthcare field after volunteering her time with Planned Parenthood and working in convalescent homes in Marin County throughout the 1970's.

After Richard's untimely death in 1985, Jan relocated within her company (Kimberly/Quality Care) and took-up residence in San Diego as she had moved-up the corporate ladder to much success in the healthcare business. While in San Diego she met Richard Jones, whom would become her companion and lifelong friend, even after Jan's move back to Northern California.

Jan lived in Alameda from 1989 to 2009, with her loving cat Millie, and would continue in healthcare as an auditor for Summit hospital as well as running a local home care business in Alameda. Jan would come to love and adore Alameda. Her Victorian house located on San Antonio Avenue was the house of her dreams. Jan would often walk the leaf-lined avenues of Alameda to view the canals and other Victorians on her way to the beautiful shoreline, to capture the ultimate view of her favorite city, San Francisco.