Jane McKay sadly
passed away on December 16, 2023, two weeks to the day after her
beloved husband, Ferguson McKay, and five weeks after celebrating her
100th birthday. Brokenhearted by the loss of her partner of 64 years,
she passed with her two daughters by her bedside at the Meadows at
East Mountain in Rutland Town, Vt.
Jane was a
seventh-generation Vermonter who spent her life either residing in
the state or yearning to get back to it. She was tenacious about
protecting and preserving her family’s history, dating to a
Revolutionary War officer who settled in Vermont before it was a
state. The center of her universe was Cabot, where she grew up and
spent many of her adult years. It is because of Jane that a Victorian
home built by her great-grandparents remains in the family today,
passed down through five generations of women and full of treasures
from those many years. She instilled a love for Cabot and Vermont in
her own family.
Jane was a devoted
wife and mother who was always there for a hug and a kiss, sometimes
with cookies, always with too many vegetables. Dinner was regularly
served with at least two veggies from the garden, a salad and
conversation about the day. She was kind, gracious, protective and
had a big, warm, infectious smile that could light up a room. Her
happiest moments were when she was surrounded by her family. She made
friends wherever she went and doted on her two daughters.
Like her husband,
Ferg, Jane was both generous and frugal. She was an enthusiastic
shopper who never saw a sale rack she didn’t want to peruse. She
taught her daughters never to waste food, to reuse aluminum foil and
Ziploc bags, and how to best navigate Filene’s Basement. She loved
Liberty print blouses, Talbots, hot fudge sundaes and scotch on the
rocks, which she drank at her 100th birthday party.
She was an eager
host who always made guests feel at home with warm blankets on the
beds, food in the kitchen and things to do. She was also an avid card
player, forming a bridge group while living at the Gables at East
Mountain and easily beating much younger family members at rummy.
Born “across the
river” in Hanover, N.H., on November 8, 1923, Jane spent her early
years in Springfield, Mass., where her father ran a children’s
clothing factory. When he lost the factory in the Depression, the
family moved to the family home in Cabot.
Jane thrived in
Cabot, in her multigenerational family, at school and with
friendships in the tight community. “A Childhood of Freedom +
Adventure,” she later called it in an essay reminiscing about
skiing and tobogganing on a hill behind her house and about a church
social group where young people shared boxed lunches.
Jane attended junior
college in Vermont before matriculating at Radcliffe College in
Cambridge, Mass., now part of Harvard University. She taught
elementary school for several years after college, including on a
U.S. Air Force base in Goose Bay, Labrador.
That was just one of
her many adventures as a young woman. Jane also fearlessly skied
Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington; studied for a summer in Oslo,
Norway; traveled through Europe; and sailed home alone on a
freighter. She never lost her desire to travel, even asking her
daughters in her final months to take her on a cruise or trip to her
favorite country — England.
Jane met Ferguson at
a church singles’ group in Cambridge, and they married on June 20,
1959. Her love of Vermont drew her new family back to the state in
1967, when Ferg took a job at Lyndon State College (now Vermont State
University-Lyndon). After Ferg retired, he and Jane spent the next 26
summers living back in Cabot. Jane loved having cocktails with
friends on the porch, serving trays of crackers and cheese to guests
when she was well into her nineties.
Jane and Ferg moved
to the Gables in Rutland in 2018 and then to the Meadows. The family
would like to thank the Meadows staff and At Home Senior Care
caregivers for their love and devotion in Jane’s and Ferg’s final
years.
Jane is survived by
her two daughters, Betsy McKay of Woodbridge, Conn., and Peggy
(McKay) Shinn of Rutland; their spouses, Neil Bainton and Andrew
Shinn; her three grandchildren, Larisa and Andy Bainton and Sam
Shinn; and her grandson-in-law, Kevin Hernandez. She is predeceased
by her parents and two sisters.
A memorial service
will be held on Saturday, January 6, 2 p.m., at Grace Congregational
Church in Rutland, with a second memorial and burial service for Ferg
and Jane in Cabot this coming June. In lieu of flowers, donations in
Jane’s memory may be made to the United Church of Cabot, PO Box
127, Cabot, VT 05647, or to the Preservation Trust of Vermont at
ptvermont.org/about/give. Arrangements are with Tossing Funeral Home
in Rutland.
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This article appears in The Reading Issue 2023.