Jean M Colby
Dec. 28, 1924-Feb. 21, 2022
Palo Alto, California

Jean MacKaye Colby died peacefully February 21, 2022 at Channing House in Palo Alto, CA. She enjoyed being a resident there for over 20 years and appreciated the many friendships and excellent care provided there.

Jean was born on December 28, 1924 in Ann Arbor, Michigan to Lavinia Gould MacBride and Robert Keith MacKaye. Her mother became a pediatrician at the University of Michigan and also later moved to Channing House for the final 20 years of her life.

Jean attended the University High School in Ann Arbor and made life-long friendships there. She was very involved with their literary journal production and enjoyed writing poems. For college, she considered following her mother with the pre-med track and got a Chemistry degree from University of Michigan. Her career ambition was distracted after meeting Starr Jocelyn Colby during college. They fell in love, got married a week after her graduation and enjoyed over 50 years together.

Starr’s aerodynamic career took them around the country, including Pacific Palisades, CA, Alexandria, VA and ending up in Atherton, CA. Jean was busy raising five children and taking leadership positions in PTA, AAUW and LWV.

Jean had a passion for supporting quality public education and was a founding member of EdSource and later ran successfully for the San Mateo County Board of Education.

Jean loved to gather people around a table and was always ready to serve tea. She cultivated many friendships through theater groups, church groups, an investment club and family reunions in the Adirondacks. Her investment club, ‘Dow Dames’, made enough profit several years to pay for their annual meeting to be in either London or Paris, which Jean was proud to organize.

She touched many lives and will be dearly missed.

Jean is survived by her daughter-in-law Ruth Colby, son Peter Colby, son David Colby, daughter Betsy Colby and son-in-law Barry Herman, and grandchildren Jordan Colby, Kye Colby and wife Stevi Colby, Eben Colby and Jason Herman. She is predeceased by her sister Nancy Wertheimer, husband Starr Colby, son Stephen Colby, daughter Sally Colby and granddaughter Carol Busch.

In lieu of flowers, consider making a donation in Jean’s name to EdSource (edsource.org) or LWV (www.lwv.org).