This Saturday, we’ll celebrate the life of Penland’s dear friend and close neighbor Jane Hatcher, who died last month at age 77 after a long and courageous struggle with vascular dementia. Jane and her partner, Mary Anglin, lived for decades just around the corner from Penland. She was a frequent visitor to the school–a person we saw often at the coffee shop and show-and-tell and occasionally as a student or yoga instructor. Jane was caring, funny, energetic, and enthusiastic: about life, about creative work, about other people, about nature, her home, and whatever she was learning at that moment. Any day that included a conversation with Jane was a better day.

Mary wrote these words about her partner:

“Born in Columbus, Georgia, Jane had a successful career as an educator before moving to North Carolina in the 1970s to take courses in clay and participate in the Resident Artist Program at Penland. In addition to her career as a studio potter and a teacher in Penland’s clay program and through the “artist in the schools” program, she worked for many years as a massage therapist and practitioner/ teacher of yoga. Above all, she was an ardent student of life; a reader of poetry, literature, philosophy, and systems of healing; an artist who continued making work throughout her life; and friend to all she knew.”

There will be a short ceremony on the knoll at Penland at 2:00 PM on Saturday, September 17. This will be followed by a reception at The Pines, with a slideshow and a display of Jane’s work, including some pots and paintings made in the last few years. The reception will be catered but anyone who wishes to is welcome to bring food to the celebration. Please come a few minutes early to find parking.

The family has suggested that memorial gifts be made to Hospice of Yancey County (856 Georges Fork Road, Burnsville, NC 28714), the Jane M. Hatcher Scholarship at Penland School (PO Box 37 Penland, NC 28765), or  Memory Care (100 Far Horizons Lane, Asheville, NC 28803.