Jane L. Shafrin was born in Milwaukee, WI on May 5, 1940. She passed away at her home in Colorado Springs, CO on August 19, 2026. She was 86 years old. Jane attended high school in Milwaukee and later attended the University of Washington in Seattle where she majored in English.
Jane began learning to play piano at the age of 3 and became a skilled pianist. She performed a piano concerto for the public when she was a senior in high school. She continued to play piano for the rest of her life and was always working to improve her musical talent, especially with jazz piano. She was a lifelong music lover, especially of jazz and blues. She always had jazz music playing at home and enjoyed going to see live jazz throughout her life.
As a young girl, Jane lived on a Native American Indian reservation in Eastern Washington state and had fond memories of that time. She enjoyed having a pony and learning how to ride horses. This time instilled in her a love of Native American art and jewelry.
Jane was fluent in German and French. After college she traveled to Europe and was mistaken for a local in Berlin due to her fluent German. She loved to travel and in addition to France and Germany she visited Britain, Spain, Italy, Israel, Turkey, Tanzania, Peru, Alaska and many other places in the US. She had especially fond memories of her 2 trips to Africa for safaris, the second time with her daughter Mimi.
After college and travels she eventually settled in Marblehead, MA where she raised her daughter Mimi. She worked as a high school English teacher at Lynn English High School in Lynn, MA. She was an avid gardener, with a large vegetable garden. She was also a talented seamstress and sewed many of her own and her daughter’s clothes.
After teaching she worked in publishing for McGraw-Hill in Lexington, MA. She wasn’t satisfied working for others, and this is when her entrepreneurial spirit took hold. One venture found her selling a copier to famed chef Julia Child. She started her own company and worked as a technical writer for several years. Always looking for her next endeavor, Jane got interested in jewelry and opened her own jewelry store. She eventually had a shop on trendy Newbury Street in Boston. Her creativity flourished and she loved interacting with customers. She even sold some jewelry to Madonna, among other celebrities. She learned how to make jewelry and started selling loose beads and jewelry making supplies. She started a mail order business called Beads By
Mail and sold beads by catalog and later on her website. She also sold jewelry by noted designer Kenneth Jay Lane and became a go-to seller of his pieces.
She moved to Colorado Springs, CO in 2004 to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. While she continued with her jewelry business she got involved in real estate and bought and sold several houses and had some rental properties. Always an entrepreneur, she enjoyed the process of fixing up houses for sale or rent.
Jane loved spending time with her daughter and grandchildren and also enjoyed spending time at home, reading, gardening and playing piano. She had a beautiful garden with her husband Ian at their home in Pembroke, MA before moving to Colorado. She loved animals and adopted 2 rescue greyhounds during her life.
Jane is survived by her daughter Mimi Smith, son-in-law Timothy Smith and much-loved grandchildren Greta Smith and Nathaniel Smith. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband Ian Donovan.
Memorials in Jane’s name may be made to Greyhound Friends, Inc., 167 Saddle Hill Road, Hopkinton, MA 01748.