Santa Cruz

LONG TIME SANTA CRUZ RESIDENT AND CIVIC ACTIVIST DIES AT 79

Jane Walton, 79, died peacefully on June 27, 2024, following a brief period on hospice in Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, CA. She was predeceased by her parents Clark and Margaret Wise Walton, and is survived by her sister Susan Carroll, niece Katie Carroll, nephew Christopher Walton Carroll, all of Southern California. She will be deeply missed by her family and her friends in Santa Cruz and elsewhere.

Jane was born in Dayton, Ohio on September 7, 1944, graduated from Oakwood High School in 1962, and received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College in 1966 where she majored in Latin and struggled with Italian. Jane was co-editor of her college yearbook (Akoue ’66). Her keen visual acumen, wit, and facility with words are reflected in its pages. In her senior year she won a coveted spot as one of the guest editors of Mademoiselle magazine’s college issue.

After college, Jane headed West in a VW bug to take a job teaching Latin at a private girls’ school in Palo Alto. She eventually moved to Stockton where she taught English at a youth correctional facility, an experience that prompted her to study law. She took night classes at the McGeorge School of Law, paying her way with part-time legal jobs and substitute teaching at another youth facility.

After receiving her J.D. in 1977, she moved to Santa Cruz to work in the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s office as a prosecuting attorney, the first woman to hold that position. In the early 1980s, she joined the Peace Corps and was posted to Thailand where she taught advanced English using mock trials as part of her instruction. Back in Santa Cruz, she worked as a civil trial investigator, continued substitute teaching, and eventually worked as a test developer for McGraw Hill. In 1994, she competed on Jeopardy and placed second. Jane was a lifelong learner. She took many courses at Cabrillo College, and in 2016 received Associate of Arts degrees in history, photography, and Spanish. She was a fan of world cinema and Italian opera, and on trips abroad she worked to improve her Italian by taking courses in Palermo, Naples, and Florence. She had a zany sense of humor and an eye for the off-beat and the beautiful, which she captured in many photographs.

Civic engagement was second nature to Jane, and she contributed greatly to the Santa Cruz community. She wrote numerous pithy letters to the editor of the Santa Cruz Sentinel on topics ranging from bike racks, to architectural criticism, and to recycling, once advising readers to save their plastic newspaper bags for dog walkers.

In the mid-90s, she won the fourth position in a three open-seat race of the Santa Cruz City Council, the only candidate with a website. She served on the Santa Cruz Public Works Commission, served on the Board of Directors of KUSP, a Santa Cruz listener-sponsored PBS radio station, and volunteered for a writing-in-school program. For decades through the last few months of her life, she was a dedicated volunteer for the Santa Cruz Grey Bears, an organization that distributes food to senior citizens.

Donations in Jane’s memory can be made to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.