Marion Jane Mattes

Marion Jane Mattes, April 12, 2013, in the comfort of her home and the company of her devoted attendant, Myrna Elarms, she is survived by her loving son Hans Mattes of Santa Rosa, son Martin Mattes and daughter-in-law Cathy Garzio of San Francisco, granddaughters Katherine Mattes (Jeff Nicholl) of New Orleans, Sarah Mattes of Redondo Beach, Kirsten Kahle, M.D. (Neal) of Indianapolis, grandsons Nicholas, Daniel, and Thomas Mattes of San Francisco, and great grandchildren Colleen Nichol, Samuel and Isaac Alpert, and Max, Annie and Theo Kahle. Her husband, Hans Adam Mattes, and daughter-in-law, Martha Mattes, predeceased her. Born at home on 9th Avenue in San Francisco on November 16, 1916, with a heart condition that caused the family doctor to advise her mother, Ella Burge (nee Keenan), that she might not survive ten years, Jane moved with her family to the Marina District in 1929, attending Galileo High School, dancing with Dom DiMaggio, and graduating in 1934. After several years living with cousins in El Salvador and Guatemala, she worked as an assistant to her father, George Burge, the only Episcopalian employed by the Hibernia Bank. In 1941, she met Hans Adam Mattes, a refugee from Nazi Germany, who asked her to marry him on their first date. She did. Hans and Jane lived and raised their children in Washington, D.C., Mill Valley, and Southern California, returning to buy a home in San Francisco in 1966, where Jane lived the next 47 years. Jane was a long time member of the Women's City Club, co-chair of its writers' group with her close friend Anna Ruth Kipping, and of San Francisco's chapter of the Browning Society. She loved poetry, was the author of many fine poems, and loved her pets, most recently Freddy the cat. She will be missed and well remembered. The family is thankful to Aunt Ann's Home Care and UCSF Housecalls for the wonderful care they provided Jane in her last years.

Funeral Mass will be held Tuesday, April 16th, at 9:15 a.m. at St. Vincent de Paul Church, Green and Steiner, with interment at Holy Cross in Colma.