Jean Canfield (née Audrey Jean MacDonald) passed away on November 12, 2020 at her residence in Bonaventure of Lacey at the age of 91. Born in Victoria, British Columbia on April 11, 1929 as the sixth of Hugh and Mildred MacDonald's seven children, Jean spent her early years in Victoria and Athabasca, Canada. She would always think of herself as an Anacortes girl, however, because that's where her character was formed by the struggles and triumphs of a schoolgirl during the Great Depression and World War II. As a teenager in Anacortes, Jean and her sisters and friends had the town to themselves, roaming from the ice cream shop to the roller rink and, no-doubt, to secret places in between. Jean had a very sharp mind and was an excellent student in high school, where in 1949 she met her future husband, a basketball player from the Olympia High School visiting team. That same year, on a dare, she took a career test and was then quickly recruited by the State of Washington to come work in Olympia. Once there, her blazing typing speed, professionalism, and ability to manage the myriad details of a busy office quickly moved her to the level of executive secretary. Her life as a single young professional woman in the Olympia of 1950 was forever changed when she walked with friends along Capital Boulevard one day and heard the words "Hey, Anacortes" shouted from a carful of boys driving down the street. The shouter was that basketball player from Olympia, Bill Canfield, revealing his interests in the red-haired beauty with an honest exuberance that outweighed the subtlety that would forever escape him. Jean married Bill in 1951 and gave birth to four sons in five years. This did not fill the roster of the baseball team of sons that Bill had imagined he would coach, but Jean had already challenged human biology by having all four by cesarean section. In the midst of these pregnancies and caring for her infants and toddlers, Jean helped with the construction of the family's first home on Johnson Point.

In 1962 the family moved into their dream home on Libby Road—at the time an abandoned farmhouse. Jean's eye for home design saw potential in the dilapidated hulk and made it part of her life's work to transform it into a beautiful, warm, and inviting home where family and friends could always find a delicious meal, a bed to rest in, and a place to gather for parties, pig roasts, weddings and celebrations of every sort. Jean also distinguished herself as a truly excellent cook who could feed the family of 6 or a group of 50 with equal success. Jean was always happy to welcome her boys' friends to her home to share with them the bounty of the farm, awakening more than a few vegetable-phobics to the delicacies of fresh garden food. Jean took pride in teaching her boys how to cook and clean and do laundry for themselves, because it was not "women's work". And she was sure to advise her only granddaughter, when reluctant to share details of her love life, "your purpose in life is not to snare a husband." Thus Jean revealed herself as partly the traditional mother and farm wife of her parents' generation and partly a more modern woman with ambitions, ideas, and values consonant with the 60s and 70s era of her middle years.

As if raising four boys and refurbishing and managing a huge farmhouse was not enough, Jean and Bill stepped up to the plate in 1971 when 5 nieces and nephews were suddenly orphaned. She brought them into her home, gave them her love, and did her best to raise them as her own. This occurred at a time when Jean was re-entering the workforce as a professional woman. After mastering and implementing much of the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Service Home Economics curriculum to enrich her and her family's life, Jean went on to work for the Service, taking on responsibilities far exceeding her formal educational attainment. Jean became a highly respected conference organizer for the Extension Service. In her 50s, when the privatization trend swept through government, she launched her own business, Jean Canfield & Associates, and organized large conferences. She greatly enjoyed working with university professors and professionals from many disciplines, using her creativity and hard work to make the conferences both professionally successful and entertaining for attendees and their partners. Among her most favorite conferences was the Western Bridge Engineers, an organization that implored her to organize their meetings for nearly two decades, until she was well into her 70s.

In her later years, Jean maintained the family home as the default center of all family events.  Among her greatest joys was introducing her grandchildren to picking blackberries and making the most delicious pies. She took delight in attending family graduations and weddings around the country and experienced the thrill of meeting and holding her two great-granddaughters. She cared for her husband Bill as his health declined, and after 67 years of marriage and Bill's death in 2017, Jean was fortunate to catch the eye of Roy Gault whose loving companionship and gentle care brought her much joy and comfort in her final years. Jean is survived by her younger sister Bess Dennis, her four sons and their wives (William and Melissa Canfield of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Roger and Sue Canfield of Olympia, Washington; Tim and Kristi Canfield of Olympia, Washington; Rick Canfield and Cindy Hazan of Ithaca, New York), her four grandchildren, Steven (Franny), Kristin, Adel and Kramer, and two great-grandchildren, Alice and Joanie. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a celebration of her life will be held when it is safe for family and friends to travel and gather.