Jon Abbott has passed away, at peace in his home, from a heart attack. Jon was aware he had a terminal heart condition for the past four years; this together with a variety of other physical maladies caused him pain, daily, for over ten years. In keeping with who he was, despite his pain, he continued to live life as he wanted.
Jon was raised in Maine and came to California when he was 18; he attended UC Santa Barbara as a sculptor major, “selling silver rings on the beach as a hippie jeweler.” He moved to the Berkeley area in the early ‘70’s where he met his wife Linda – he was selling jewelry at an outdoor fair and she purchased a gold ring for $20. They had a good time in those special days, meeting under the mirrored ball at Winterland. They were friends for two years before their romance took off with a first date at “A Day on the Green” in Oakland with The Grateful Dead and The Who.
Jon was in “the trade” as a professional art jewelry designer when they married in 1983. He was a “house goldsmith” in Sausalito, which is where the wedding took place. Jon earned a degree in Ceramics at Cal-State University Hayward, a lifetime ambition emulating his father who was a ceramics professor at Massachusetts University of Art. He considered himself a “spiritual seeker” and studied various esoteric philosophies and religions. He was a member of a prana yama yoga ashram in Berkeley for years. In his early 50’s, he decided to change careers and went back to college at San Francisco State University where he met the credentialing requirements for registered nurse. He did much of his practicum hours in hospice and psychiatric nursing. He was employed as a psychiatric nurse in Walnut Creek, California.
A major life change occurred in 1995 when a 300-year old oak tree crashed through the Abbott home, during a storm, at 4AM. Jon and Linda barely escaped; losing the dream home they had built together signaled a change. After rebuilding, they left the Bay Area, in 2000, for Orcas Island… chosen for the ways it resembled Maine. Since then Jon worked as a caregiver while building his artist studio. He loved his garden, his shop, his pussycats, and his family.
Jon is survived by his wife Linda, daughter Lisa, sister Ann and her husband Rick, nephews Jeremy and Danny, stepfamily in Maine, fellow artists and craftsmen, and more friends than he realized.
On Sunday, November 19, we invite you to celebrate Jon’s life at the Odd Fellows Hall between 3 and 5pm. Please bring a single flower for our farewell bouquet and a written memory for Linda’s guest book. Come, enjoy some food, a glass of wine, and share wonderful memories of a life well lived.
If you choose to make a donation, know that Jon would appreciate your support of the Odd Fellows Scholarship Fund. Checks can be made payable to; IOOF #88 and note Scholarship Fund in the memo. Thank you.
