Jean Summers Wolf

July 24, 1916 - September 9, 2018

Mary Jean Summers Wolf, “Queen Jean”, passed away peacefully on Sunday, September 9, 2018 surrounded by her family at University of California San Francisco Medical Center.

Born in 1916 in Hammonton, California, Jean was the middle of three daughters born to Molly and Mark LaFore Summers.

Her father was a mining engineer, so the family moved many times following the gold in California and Nome, Alaska. It was in Nome where Mary Jean was part of the diphtheria generation. Her father’s sled dog teams were led by the famous dogs Balto and Togo, and these dog teams and their mushers defined the original Iditarod Run, transporting the serum from Anchorage to Nome to avert the diphtheria epidemic.

Jean attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and delighted in experiencing the natural beauty in the canyons she loved. She moved west to marry engineer Raymond Wolf, a San Francisco native, and lived the next 80 years there where she raised three children, the center of her life. All summers were spent at her beloved Blue Lakes providing the natural environment she so cherished and graciously shared with many generations, teaching the lessons of “the web of life.”

For 18 years she created costumes for hundreds of students for the plays and musicals at Saint Ignatius College Prep. and was a consummate fabric artist creating hundreds of original needlepoint panels, vestments, woven fabrics, unique garments and a set of sails that circumnavigated the globe with her son Stephen. Over the last 15 years she prepared meals for hundreds of S.I. students attending the Art and Nature Intensive. She possessed a thirsty mind, a mechanical bent, and an eye for beauty.

Her greatest gift was her ability to talk with, relate to, and counsel those who sought her company. She befriended hundreds of people, many of whom needed someone to understand them, while others simply wanted a good companion. Her 102 years were fully alive as she responded to life with an extraordinary sense of grace, generosity, creativity and compassion.

Jean is predeceased by her husband Raymond and son Raymond. Her brilliant legacy lives on in her son Stephen (Margo), granddaughters Malima and Violetta, and in her daughter Katie, granddaughter Cordelia, and great-granddaughter Charleigh Grace, and in all those she loved and mentored throughout her life.

A celebration of Jean's life was held on Sunday Dec. 2 at 11 am in San Francisco, Ca. 94116.
In lieu of flowers, donations to honor Jean's work with young people can be made to help restore the Art and Nature Preserve devastated by the Mendocino Complex fires last summer. Checks can be mailed to Katie Wolf, 2001 37th Ave. San Francisco, Ca. 94116 or to a charity of your choice.

The Nome Nugget

PO Box 610
Nome, Alaska 99762
USA

Phone: (907) 443-5235
Fax: (907) 443-5112

www.nomenugget.net

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