Jean Edith Gordon

Jean was born on 21 May 1941 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the first child of Maxwell and Jessie Gordon. Like her father she became a schoolteacher (1959), then married fellow-teacher and British Army officer Albert Lay the following year. After living in England and then in Saskatoon again, they settled in Vancouver. Following the end of that marriage, Jean re-married to Warren Steck and relocated again to Saskatoon. In her later career she worked as a marketing director and college textbooks sales manager for several book publishers including Macmillan and Western Producer Prairie Books; and she worked in Toronto during 1985-1987 as national Marketing Director for Methuen publishing company. In 1990 she launched her own highly successful free-lance literary publicist company Aspen Associates for promoting new books by Canadian authors.

Jean and Warren both retired in 2010 and moved to Victoria. Jean fell ill by 2022 with spinal stenosis and then developed associated health and mobility problems – though not dementia. She entered long-term care in late 2024.

Jean was pre-deceased by her parents and by her first husband Albert. She is survived by Warren, her loving husband of forty-five years; by her sister Judith Wood (James); by her two children by Albert: Susan Nichols (Andrew) and Gordon Lay (Karon Cheng); by step-daughter Michayla Lay; by four adult grandchildren Maxwell Nichols (Tejas), Hugh Nichols (Alicia), Katherine Lay and Madeline Lay; by nieces Margaret and Jennifer; by a great grandson Gordon and a newborn great-granddaughter Marlowe.

Jean was well-known for her extraordinary attractiveness, her sharp mind, her cheerful disposition, her positive outlook and her many social activities and involvements in community organizations. Her quick wit and open “prairie” hospitality will remain legendary. She accumulated a large array of interesting friends, business associates and acquaintances, many now left to mourn her passing.

According to her own wishes, Jean’s body will be cremated, and there will be no funeral service. Well-wishers are encouraged to honour her memory by a donation to some Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or to Planned Parenthood.

Thanks go to all the staff at Trillium St Charles Manor in Victoria for truly wonderful care through Jean’s final years.