Jane L Coverston 1930-2021

“Perestroika In Paris” by Jane Smiley is the story of Paras, the horse, who is curious about outside of her stable, and Frida the German short-haired Pointer, who lives at Place de Trocadero in Paris. Paras and Frida meet and talk about their lives and Frida takes Paras to a pleasant beach area where she can sleep. Frida makes sure the purse with money in it is safely hidden. Author Smiley tells their story with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes. Soon the two are greeted by a raven, Raoul who leads Paras to a park carpeted with tasty short stalks of grass. Paras nibbles away and urged by curiosity and good vision sees horses standing still in the distance. Frida tells Paras they are part of a carousel for entertaining the idle humans. Delphine and Rania, the trainers had looked for Paras all night, but never in the right direction. Paras jumps over a fence and drinks from the pond. Paras likes the grass at Champ de Mars, it’s flavorful at night. Frida digs a hole there to hide the purse and lies down on top of it.

Frida walks to a market because it reminds her of Jacques, her former master who used to sing and play his guitar and get money. Frida put the money in the purse and into a plastic bag and picked it up in her mouth. At the meat market, Frida trots to the table and spits the bag onto it. The proprietor sees the money and puts vegetables and bread rolls into the bag and gives it to Frida. The man laughs. Paras eats a carrot and Raoul takes a green bean and Frida takes the last piece of bread. Sid and Nancy, the ducks share the bread too.

Pierre, the head gardener at Champ de Mars sees Paras and decides she gives Mars a certain style. Sid’s responsibility is the nest and says the rats are the worst danger to eggs. Frida, on her way to the shop, sees two cars collide and comes on an old old woman who falls down. A boy helps her to her feet and they walk to the vegetable shop. Madame de Mornay cares for the boy, an eight-year-old who may be her great-grandson, Etienne. He teaches himself to read from all the books in great grandmother’s house. He doesn’t want to know the outside world. When the raven pecks at the window Etienne opens it and Raoul flies in, looks around, and flies out. Paras can not recall her former dwelling, the stable, or the other horses with their grunts, whinnies, and other sounds. The new area and doings are more intriguing to Paras these days. The thrill of racing is now part of the past. To satisfy her curiosity and to do what she wants is more important. There are owls and foxes and of course, Frida and the raven.

Delphine has put another horse in Para’s stall, making ten horses total. She had put up signs and advertised and talked to other business owners but no Paras. And what had happened to her purse with all her winnings? An animal psychic tells Delphine she sees Paras looking in shop windows. Delphine laughs and forgets about it and about her missing winnings.

Paras sees the boy after he leaves the great-grandmother at church for an hour. The boy looks for Paras, then leaves a carrot on the ground, and a piece of bread. The boy goes into a house and Raoul flies in too. A gendarme looks in amazement, then moves on thinking he is drunk. Etienne locks the gate and runs to the church to help Madame down the steps. She enjoyed the service though she couldn’t hear the choir. Frida meets a woman on the street who gives her a sausage. When they get back to the house, Madame lies down for a nap, and Paras drops some poop. In the kitchen Paras drinks water out of the sink as Etienne gives Paras bites of a baguette as well as parsnips, turnips, and sweet potatoes. Etienne takes a bucket and cleans up Para’s mess as Paras goes outside and eliminates the water. Kurt and Conrad, two black rats are Etienne’s clean-up crew. Frida is invited into a patisserie by Orlando who flips her a roll. Raoul flies inside and lands on Frida’s back and Orlando laughs as Frida offers her paw to him.

Frida does several tricks for tourists who come into the shop, then follows them to the Metro. Frida drifts off to sleep in the warmth. Etienne rearranges the furniture in the salon so Paras can lie down and the old woman will not trip over him. Paras muses over her last race which she won, and how good it felt to win. Pierre, the gardener, looks for Para’s tracks in the fresh snow. He’d looked for ads about a missing horse but didn’t find any. He won’t call animal control because he thinks it’s nice to have a horse in the garden where cavalries and carriage horses once walked. When Paras knocks on the door, Etienne lets her in and Madame walks to the door to feel the sun on her skin.

Frida goes outside and digs where she has hidden the purse in the Bois de Boulogne, and with the handle in her mouth trots to Jerome’s market. She hopes he will like the few blue and brown bills, though there are only a few left. Jerome might be generous to her this day. The gendarme who hears Para’s whinney thinks he’s delusional. He heads to a bar and has a glass of Burgundy. Anais who had cared for Paras is pleased to hear her whinney.

The animals know that Great grandmother has passed away before Etienne knows. Kurt, the rat, comes to Etienne, then Paras, and then Frida, with her tail and ears down. Etienne feels comforted and goes for a ride on Para’s back Paras hears the horses racing on the track nearby. Does the sound make Paras homesick and want to go back to the race track?

Author Smiley gives animal characters human behavior that results in a delightful tale. Find this romp on the new fiction shelf of your local library.

Jane L. (Chahon) Coverston passed away on October 1, 2021. Jane was born October 17,1930. She was the sixth child of Gustave and Clara (Adams) Chahon. She moved to Fort Bragg when she was 7 years old. When her mother re-married, Jens Wesgaard, a Danish fisherman, he became a beloved second father to Jane. They lived on Hwy 20 for a number of years

In high school she met and married Claude Coverston in 1948. Together they raised three children: Stephen (Karen) Coverston, Claudia Coverston and Sarah (Craig) Azevedo. While they raised their children, she enjoyed cooking, sewing, traveling, "antique" hunting and dancing.

In 1976, she went to work part-time for FBUSD as a teacher’s aide. She retired in 2001, with 25 years of service. That was the year Claude passed, after 53 years of marriage.

She was the last surviving Aunt on both sides of the Coverston/Chahon families to 40 nieces and nephews. Jane was a grandmother of 7: Brian (Renee) Coverston, Devin (Mariah) Coverston, Alisha Coverston, Joshua Azevedo (d. 2018), Kayleigh (Brent) Maxey, Charles (Bailey) Schneider, Alex (DeAnn) Schneider. Not to forget her 9 great grandchildren: Penelope Jane, Natalie, Lillian, Callum, Rhys, Evelyn, Sebastian, Cache and Kaianne.

She leaves behind many other friends and people she dearly loved. Jane will be laid to rest on Friday Oct. 8,h @ ll am at Rose Memorial Park, a graveside service. With a gathering following the service at the Pentecost Hall on Stewart St. Until 2 pm.

October 12, 1929 – September 2, 2021

With loved ones by her side, Margarita Orozco 91, of Fort Bragg peacefully left this world on September 2, 2021.

In 1943, at the age of 13, Margarita immigrated to San Francisco, CA from El Salvador. She was accompanied by her mother and a group of 17 women coming to work in the war effort. When they arrived in San Francisco her mother started working as a “Rosy the Riveter” in the Alameda Shipyard and placed Margarita in Ursuline High School, a private girls’ boarding school in Santa Rosa from which Margarita graduated.

In 1948, she married Jorge Dheming who later became a cadet in the Salvadoran Military Academy. Their son, Walter, was born in San Francisco before the family moved back to San Salvador. There, Margarita worked for the American Foreign Service and had two more children.

Having divorced, Margarita moved back to San Francisco where she worked for the Nestle Company as a bilingual executive secretary.

In 1959, Margarita married Guillermo Orozco with whom she had three children. Having an eye for numbers, she worked as the bookkeeper and manager of their family business in Santa Clara.

Next to her family, Margarita’s greatest joy was her garden. In San Jose she took pride in her spectacular roses and the delicious fruit from her trees, especially her Bing cherries. In Fort Bragg, her plums and apples were always favorites. No matter where she lived, her home was lovingly known as the “plant hospital” because of her green thumb.

While raising six kids, Margarita was also active in the community. As a member and officer in the Santa Clara Lions, she participated in fundraising for needy causes, especially for the vision impaired. In fact, what became the Lions Club Annual Crab Cioppino fundraiser began in her kitchen. Another source of satisfaction came from leading, as President, the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Mesa Redonda, an international women’s organization dedicated to raising scholarships for Latino students. Representing her chapter, Margarita addressed the assembly at the 1998 International Conference in Peru.

Locally here in Fort Bragg, Margarita was a dedicated volunteer. She spent innumerable hours working in the propagation area of Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens and in the local library. As a MCDH volunteer she crocheted and donated beautiful baby clothes to our hospital gift store.

Margarita was a beautiful, courageous, and accepting woman. The “Queen of Solitaire”, she never had a dull moment…enjoying music, teaching Salvadoran dishes to her children, writing favorite poems in her exquisite handwriting, and keeping in touch with her family. She occupied her time with sewing and needlework… creating countless beautiful, embroidered pieces, crafting dolls in native clothes of all nationalities, and gifting treasured handwork to family and friends.

Margarita is survived by her six children: Walter Dheming & Dia Kimm of Paradise, CA; Claudia Dheming of Fort Bragg, CA; Jennifer Dheming of Fort Bragg, CA; Analuisa Orozco of Adin, CA; Teresa Orozco of San Jose, CA; and Guillermo “Memo” Orozco of Lake Oswego, Oregon. She is also survived by her seven grandchildren, two great grandchildren, as well as a sister and niece, both of Venezuela.

The family will be honoring Margarita at a private Celebration of Life.

Like the butterfly leaving the cocoon, Margarita is now free of the weary body and able to fly.