Jane McNeary

January 25, 2016

CHARLOTTE - Jane Green McNeary passed away on Monday, January 25, 2016, after a determined nine month effort to defeat cholangiocarcinoma. She was a native Charlottean, born on March 19, 1945, her father's birthday, to William James Lippincott McNeary and Jane Elizabeth Green McNeary and grew up in Charlotte where she graduated from Myers Park High School. After a childhood spent at WingHaven, the Nature Museum, sailing and in scouting. Jane developed a life-long passion for the outdoors and gardening which influenced the rest of her life. She graduated from NC State and became a landscape architect, practicing in Charlotte, in Minneapolis, where she redesigned the Governor's Ceremonial Residence, and in Atlanta. She then returned to Charlotte to open commercial greenhouses and become involved in many facets of the community. She served on the Park and Recreation Commission, the board of the Carolina Raptor Center and on the Friends of the Library Board for Charlotte/Mecklenburg where she headed two very successful book sales. Later, through Myers Park Presbyterian Church, she became active in the partnership with the Grier Heights community and especially the Billingsville School and the Freedom School, where she volunteered endless hours and supported numerous projects, making friends at every stop along the way. She never missed an opportunity to teach children about nature, gardening and wildlife, nor one to plant a plant, especially pansies which became her trademark. Her survivors include her brothers William Wilson McNeary, II (Peggy) of Charleston, MO, and John Maxwell McNeary (Lydia) of Charlotte, nieces Mary Ella McNeary Yamashita (Tsunemi) of Russellville, AR, and Lydia Lennox McNeary (David Keyes) of Roanoke, VA, nephews William Wilson McNeary III (Charlotte) of Charleston, MO, and Harvey Drake McNeary(Beth) of Clemson, SC as well as great-nieces and nephews Yoshio and Mihoshi Yamashita, Wilson, Maggie and Mari McNeary, Wilson Keyes, and Laurel McNeary. Services will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 30, 2016, at Myers Park Presbyterian Church with visitation to follow in Oxford Hall. A gift in Jane's honor can be made to one of the charities to which she was most devoted, The Catawba Lands Conservancy, The Carolina Raptor Center, CrossRoads Corporation, Inc., The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation or the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.

Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth Poe Funeral & Cremation Services, 1321 Berkeley Ave Charlotte NC 28204. Phone: 704 641-7606

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