Obituary of Jean Elardo Lane

Dec. 23, 1923 - Oct. 12, 2012 Jean passed away Friday morning with her two daughters by her side at the age of 88. She is survived by her daughters, Nancy Lane Sehnert of Leesburg, VA and Patricia Lane Goeller of Great Falls, VA; her 8 grandchildren, Tobias Reckmeyer, Joshua Lane, Matthew Reckmeyer, Rachel Cornwell, Grace Redmond, Ryan Goeller, Lindsay Upp, and Haley Goeller; 5 great grandchildren, Kate and Adam Reckmeyer, Noah and Brayden Upp and Lillian Goeller; and one brother, Angelo Elardo of Thousand Oaks, CA. Jean was born in Uniontown, PA to Italian immigrants, Charles and Nancy and had three brothers Carmen, Joseph, and Angelo and one sister Mary, whom she was very close to. She grew up in a home where Italian was the primary language. Her father owned a produce store and all the children worked in the store. She enjoyed family gatherings where large Italian meals were the center of conversation and laughter. After high school at age 18, she went to Washington DC to work as a secretary for the government. She met the love of her life Charles, whom she married and had their two daughters, Nancy and Trish. Later on, both her and Charles ended up working for the CIA. Jean led a full life as they moved around the world with the family, living in Okinawa, Panama, Greece and traveling on vacations to many other countries. Their home base in between their overseas tours was McLean, VA. She had said those years were a very good part of her life and she met many life long friends. After retirement Jean enjoyed ball room dancing, square dancing, traveling, swimming, being a grandma and one of her favorite past times - shopping. (Her daughters and grand daughters inherited this gene). Jean had 45 happy years with Charles before he passed away in 1993. Through square dancing, she met a gentlemen Lloyd Carter and they spent 11 years as companions together until he passed away. In 2006 at the age of 82, she moved to Morningside House Assisted Living in Leesburg, VA. She was there for 6 years where she charmed the gentlemen, joked with the staff, enjoyed the other residents and continued to swim most every week until April of this year. Jean will be remembered by her family and relatives, her many friends, Morningside House staff and her dedicated private caretakers, as a very spirited, friendly, social, compassionate, and conversational lady with a good sense of humor. She referred to herself as "sweet, wonderful and scintillating". She always said she was so blessed to have such a good life. We were all very blessed to have had her part of our lives. Those who wish may make contributions to The Alzheimer's Association (alz.org) or to Capital Caring Hospice (Leesburg).