Jane (Cressey) Raymer |
| Posted 2008-07-27 by Judy Wight Branson |
| The Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona Sunday, May 13, 2007 Jane Cressey Raymer Born on her father's birthday, June 25, at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C., Jane Cressey, daughter of Lt. and Mrs. George Good Cressey was pronounced "the most beautiful baby" he'd ever seen by visitor General John J. Pershing. On a day trip to the Big Island from their home in Honolulu, 4-year-old Jane and her parents visited the lava tubes of Kilauea and a lifelong interest in geology, gems, and minerals began. Following her graduation from John Harris High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, she attended Syracuse University where she lived in the Sigma Kappa (Epsilon) house and studied under famed geologist and distant relative, Professor George Babcock Cressey. Attaining her summa cum laude bachelor's degree with a double major in geology and geography and a minor in journalism in just three years, she was named to Sigma Delta Epsilon, honoring graduate women in science. Jane Cressey and John Cecil Raymer Jr. were introduced by their mothers and, following Lt. Raymer's assignment to England as an 8th Air Force captain of a B-17, and her father Col. George Good Cressey's inspection tour in the South Pacific, they reunited in San Francisco and were married at Grace Cathedral, March 26, 1945, by Bishop Karl Morgan Block D.D., a friend since her father's childhood in Philadelphia. While living in Savannah, Georgia, she wrote a newspaper column on local culture, history and food. One of the handful of women who founded the still-active historic preservation group, she also served as a docent at the beautiful Owens-Thomas house. Many vacations were spent at her parent's historic home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; a memorable summer was spent touring Europe with her mother and daughter. After years of making gardens and leaving them, in 1969 Mrs. Raymer and her husband moved to Prescott, a town they had spent the night in years before and never forgot. Col. Raymer was first president of the Prescott Fine Arts Association and constructed the original theater, while Mrs. Raymer "gallery sat" for shows: they both enjoyed acquiring the work of regional artists. Mrs. Raymer was also one of the first graduate docents, in 1971, and third chairman, 1974-75, of the Prescott Affiliate Docents of the Phoenix Art Museum. She was a founding member of the first Questers antique study group in Prescott, "Echos From the Past," national chapter #409. Mrs. Raymer published the Arizona Questers newsletter for many years in addition to researching a constant stream of original papers and lectures. Along with other Quester members, she was a founder of the volunteer program at Sharlot Hall Museum and a longtime board member, serving as vice president and later president, when the move of the Bashford House to its present location on the museum's property and the building of the new museum center were highlights. Having had her own newspaper subscriptions as a child in order to collect the Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers comics, Mrs. Raymer was elected a member of First Fandom, an exclusive group of readers and writers of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Escorted by her daughter or grandchildren, she was an honored guest at a number of conventions and enjoyed meeting favorite authors and illustrators, as well as younger fans and writers. Friendships around the world were maintained with frequent correspondence and contributions to fanzines, writers' round-robins, poetry groups and literary journals. Mrs. Raymer was a strong supporter of other women and their interests, financing graduate work, assisting in special projects and frequently providing the editing, "eye", or genuine critique they needed: She was known for her unique blend of vast knowledge, wide-ranging field of view, and unflagging enthusiasm. Years of unrelenting pain from the debilitations of rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis were borne by her constant effort to "ask the next question"; she made a lifelong game of connecting the dots between disciplines and information, finding fascination and amazement in technology, the arts, and the natural world. An only child of two only children, Jane Cressey Raymer had little family. Her father, Col. George Good Cressey, died in 1959. Her mother, Mrs. Marie Lescallett Cressey, a native of Washington, D.C., lived with her daughter and son-in-law in Prescott from 1969 until her death in 1987. Lt. Col. John C. Raymer Jr., U.S.A.F. retired, her husband of over 55 years, a native of Davenport, Washington, died in Prescott in 2002. Her only child, Margaret Raymer Lambert, and son-in-law John R. Kleiss Lambert of BLS Systems, Inc., are Prescott residents. She also leaves two grandchildren, both Prescott natives, Jesse Raymer Lambert and Marina Lambert Farook, who are married to, respectively, Melissa Darpino Lambert and Mohamed Thahir Farook, G.J.G. Recently two infant great-grandsons also joined the family, Tristan Joseph Lambert and Rahman Gabriel Aly Shah Farook. Mrs. Raymer was in residence at "The Peridot" where she kept her door open to greet passers-by and died peacefully on Thursday, May 10, 2007. Her family will honor her by scattering her ashes at sites of geological interest. In lieu of food or flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Sharlot Hall Museum, Prescott. The Lambert and Farook families invite Jane's friends to reminisce with them between 1 and 4 p.m. Saturday, May 19, at Margaret and John Lambert's home. Heritage Memory Mortuary is assisting with the arrangements. Information provided by survivors. |
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