Jeanne Claire Hope

Pacific Grove, California

Jeanne C. Hope passed away peacefully at her home in Pacific Grove, CA on Monday, July 7, 2014. Jeanne was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. After several decades raising her family on the East Coast and in Washington State, she returned to her beloved California about 15 years ago to care for her sister.

Jeanne was loved and will be remembered for her abundance of energy, generosity, compassion and quick sense of humor. If one value permeated Jeanne’s life, it was volunteerism. When she joined the Monterey Peninsula community, she became an active volunteer as a long-term care ombudsman for the State of California through the Alliance on Aging; as librarian for the Carmel Foundation; and a certified Disaster Service Worker for the Pebble Beach Community Services District. In Mukilteo, Washington, she also was an active volunteer and helped spearhead the development and construction of a new public library. On Long Island, she was a dedicated volunteer at (what was then) North Shore Community Hospital in Glen Cove. Over the years, she received numerous awards locally and nationally for her dedicated volunteer service. She also pursued a successful career as a Realtor in Snohomish County, Washington from 1977 to the late 90s.

She practiced random acts of kindness regularly and wanted deeply to convey to the public the importance of visiting the elderly and infirm, particularly after observing time and again the isolation and solitude of the residents in Alzheimer’s’ and other care facilities where she served as an ombudsman. She very much wanted to change this dynamic in her lifetime.

Fiercely independent, principled, and stubborn at times, she could make her family and friends laugh until we cried. She loved a party, holidays and visits. She was an avid reader, gardener, entertainer, and golfer.

Jeanne attended the University of California at Berkeley. She was a member of Chapter HT, P.E.O. in Pacific Grove. Jeanne is survived by her daughter Hollis A. Hope; son Jim Hope; granddaughter Nora Hope; six nieces and nephews; and her constant canine companion, Happy. She was preceded in death by sisters Bernadette McNamara, Dorothea Costello and Barbara Soares.

The family wishes to thank her wonderful caregivers of the last several weeks. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to the SPCA for Monterey County at P.O. Box 3058, Monterey, CA 93942-3058.

Arrangements under the direction of The Paul Mortuary, Pacific Grove, CA.