Lasting Memories

Jane Edwards Williams
May 29, 1945-July 11, 2026
Menlo Park, California

Jane Edwards Williams peacefully passed away on July 11, 2026, having twice turned back cancer. She was born May 29, 1945, to Elmo Wendall and Shirley Fredericka (Poland) Edwards in Antioch, Illinois. After graduating from University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s of Art in Education in 1966 Jane and her friends ventured West in pursuit of adventure. On Valentine’s Day 1968, she met her soon to be husband on a first date: John Lyle Williams, Jr. They thereafter married on April 19, 1969, in her hometown of Antioch. While still serving as an Army Captain’s wife in White Sands, New Mexico, the young couple welcomed their daughter, Jennifer, in 1970. Seven years later, having returned to the Bay Area, their son Benjamin was born in 1977.

Jane returned to school and graduated from the Hayward State School of Nursing in 1980 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing. For more than a decade she worked as a pediatric nurse at both Stanford Hospital in Palo Alto and Kaiser Hospital in Redwood City. In 1987 Jane again returned to school graduating with a Masters Degree in Marriage, Family and Child Counseling from Santa Clara University. She then embarked a long and rewarding career as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She loved her work and clients, only closing her practice a few months prior to her death having seen and helped thousands of men and women as both a nurse and a therapist. Her empathy, thoughtfulness and caring changed the lives of the patients she treated. Their lives improved. Their wellness restored.

Her personal life was no less enriched. She spent nearly six decades traveling the world with her family and friends. She had untold adventures from the rugged beauty of the Trinity Alps Wilderness to the striking wonders of London, Dublin, Provence and Rome. Many of these odysseys were in the loving company of her closest friends.

She was an inspiration as a friend, sister, mother, grandmother and wife. She will be missed by all that loved her, and that she loved so deeply. The World has lost a gentle soul. It can never be the same. Things are not beautiful because they last forever, but because they do not. Jane was beautiful.

With her passing, Jane leaves her husband of 57 years, John; her daughter, Jennifer Hultgren and grandchildren, William and Elizabeth Hultgren; her son, Benjamin Williams and daughter in law, Lisa McGarry Williams; brother, Doctor James Edwards and sister-in-law, Cheryl Edwards; sister-in-law, Janet Williams and brother-in-law, Robert Gruner; niece and nephews, Emily and Dean White, and Jonathan Edwards.

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” - Maya Angalou