Jeane Thomson's Biography

Jeane was born and raised in Seattle. She was an executive in the property and casualty Insurance business.  She met her husband, Blake, at an international insurance brokerage firm where they both worked.

They moved to Ohio shortly after they married, subsequently to Michigan, where they raised their two children, Amy and Andrew. It was during that time that they fell in love with hot air ballooning and Jeane became one of the few commercial hot air balloon pilots in the world. They traveled extensively through the midwest to national and international balloon rallies acting as competition officials.

In, 2008 Jeane retired and began pursuing more of her lifelong passions:  libraries, gardening and traveling.  She was also an artist and calligrapher. Among her many volunteer activities, she became a trustee of the Monterey Public Library.

In 2004, she and Blake moved to Anacortes to be at the half-way point between her children (Medford, Oregon and Nelson B.C.) and the growing number of grandchildren. The total is now 5. She continued her love of gardening becoming a Master Gardner and then was appointed as a Trustee of the Anacortes Public Library.

In January of 2009, she was diagnosed with Stage IV Bone Cancer and passed in June of that year. After discussions she decided that the Read 'n' Grow concept would be a fitting way to honor her life’s passions. With the permission of the Anacortes Public Library and the Anacortes Parks Foundation this concept began in late 2009.

The Read 'n' Grow Garden is a combination of three different ideas.

• A READ Garden built outside the entrance to the Library.
• A goal of building most comprehensive collection of books and periodicals on gardening in the Pacific Northwest.
• An Annual lecture series devoted to Northwest gardening experts who have written books recently about local and sustainable types of gardening.

Jeane and Blake had a motto, Share, Care and Live. They have lived the motto.