Jane Winter Leddy

Jane Leddy, a long-time resident of San Mateo, passed away on June 10, 2019 in San Francisco. She was 93 years old. Throughout her life, Jane was a prolific artist, teacher and avid outdoorswoman. Born in 1925 in Norwalk, Iowa, Jane’s childhood was filled with adventure exploring the countryside around her family’s farm. Inspired by those experiences, and by her grandmother who painted landscapes, she became interested in art at an early age. She studied at the WPA in Des Moines where her teacher advised her to buy a sketchbook and take it everywhere she went. Jane did exactly that, and anyone who traveled or hiked with her will remember her with sketchbook always in hand.

Jane attended Cornell College and the University of Iowa, where she joined the Iowa Mountaineers and participated in expeditions throughout the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains. Upon graduation in 1947, Jane moved to California to work as Field Director for the Campfire Girls Council in Bakersfield. She joined a ski club and met John Barnes (Jack) Leddy while on a ski trip. They married in 1948 and eventually moved to Fresno where Jack and Jane built a house themselves based on Sunset Magazine plans. Jane continued with her painting and belonged to a plein air watercolor group.

In 1954 the growing family moved to San Mateo and Jane refocused her art activity on silkscreen prints. She was a long-time member of the Peninsula Serigraphers, frequently exhibiting her work at art festivals and local galleries. In 1968 she received an M.A. in English Literature at San Francisco State and taught English at San Mateo High School for a time. Meanwhile, Jane continued to pursue her love of nature as an active member of the Sierra Club, leading group hikes around the Bay Area into her 80’s. Always ready for adventure, Jane enjoyed backpacking, cross-country skiing, and international travel, creating thousands of sketches, paintings and serigraphs along the way.

Jane was a gentle, bright, creative spirit; a faithful and poetic witness to her experience of this beautiful world. She is survived by her four children, Tom, Bill, Robin Leddy Giustina, and John; their spouses, Karen Haas, Marsha Maytum, Tom Giustina and Christy Lambertson; five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. As she would say, “we love her more than tongue can tell”.