Jane Marshall - August 10,1941 - February 29, 2008

Jane Marshall aboard "oh m" in 2003 She was a force in the middle of the boat

Jane Marshall smiles at a sailing story last summer

Sailing has lost one of its most enthusiastic supporters and all of us have lost a great friend. Jane Marshall, longtime Lansing Sailing Club member died last Friday. A visitation and memorial service is planned for Saturday, March 8th at East Lansing's Gorsline-Runciman Funeral Home. The visitation will begin at 2:00 pm and the memorial service will be at 3:00 pm.

"Jane has always been an inspiration," says Ann Siegle, who continued, "I can be a fairly fair-weather sailor, having sailed for years in Miami, where it's always sunny, and always windy. If the wind is too heavy or too light, or the sun is too hot, or not out, or any one of a number of things depending upon the day, I may decide not to sail. But Jane, no matter what, was out there sailing. Every week. In her later years, Jane would need the help of Ron and Bob, her bookends in the Lightning, but she was always there. Often, I'd think, well, Jane's going sailing, I should go too."

Larry Koster gave us a little history, noting that Ron and Jane were long time members of the Lansing Sailing Club, recalling they joined in 1977. "They enjoyed day sailing their Rhodes Bantam," said Larry, "and were asked to crew with other Lightning skippers a number of times, but didn't get involved with racing until they purchased the Mueller Lightning. With Bob Hill aboard, the 'oh m' crew became very competitive light air sailors and they were successful without flying the spinnaker. Jane loved to participate in the Sunday racing program."

Alanna Harvey recalls Jane's passion for sailing. "She loved being on the water whether there was wind or not. She was always friendly to everyone and wanted to know what everyone was doing. I didn't know Jane earlier in her career but had the pleasure to get to know her in recent years. I can remember being in the women's restroom at the club and a group of us were complaining about our bruised legs from banging into the Lightning centerboard during tacks. Jane told us that taking vitamin E would keep the bruising down; I tried it and it worked!"

"I don't know why my stories revolve around the bathroom," continues Alanna, "but I remember another time when Jane accidently dropped her hearing aid in the ladies restroom. Laura and I were both on our hands and knees in the restroom trying to find this tiny hearing aid; Ron wound up crawling underneath the building with me in the bathroom trying to figure out exactly where it might have dropped so that Ron could search the ground under the area. Unfortunately, we never found it."

"Of course, the most memorable thing about Jane is the smile you would see on her face," said Alanna, "as Ron, Jane and Bob were sailing during races (usually passing us!). As Jane became less able to sail, we would all be sure to stop by and talk to her; she would always want to know how our sail was and how we did. We will miss being able to recount our day on the water to her."

Mike Moody reminds us how Jane was a quiet but enthusiastic sailor. "Jane and Ron were members of the club way before I was and were one of the clubs 'sailing couples' I admired and looked to for advice on how to get my own wife interested in sailing. I remember how difficult it was to race well against them in July and August when the wind was light. With Jane, Ron and Bob Hill as regular crew, I think their combined crew weight was just over 400 lbs. That helped make them very quick in the light stuff. Jane loved the water and I think was almost as happy being at the lake as being on it. After she and Ron donated their boat to the club, she enjoyed these past few seasons just coming to the club on Sundays to watch Susanna and crew put 'oh m' through her paces."

We will all miss Jane - a lot.

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