"Art is not the product, it's the process." Jane often said so.

Jane Lanning Leach, beloved wife, exceptional mother and grandmother, and extraordinary friend, passed away quietly at home on September 19 at age 74. She fought adrenal cancer for four years with grace and good humor.

Jane was the daughter of James B. Lanning and Irene Mae (Holmes) Beierlein. She was born and raised in Evansville, Indiana, and attended Indiana University, where she majored in psychology.

In 1968, Jane met Bob, the love of her life for 54 years, on a blind date. They married in August 1972 and moved to Amherst, Massachusetts, where Bob attended graduate school. They then settled in Connecticut, where they raised their sons, Graham and Colin, and lived for almost 40 years.

Jane taught nursery school, but her true passion was art and design. She turned those skills into an interior design business, The Painted Lady, whose hand-painted furniture and distinctive interior techniques made it a well-known name in the Farmington River Valley. It was also a place where local artists worked and displayed their talents. Jane liked to say it was more museum and gallery than store, and it showed what she believed: the making, and artists involved in it really mattered more than anything sold. Her love of the family's several dogs inspired a second business, The Artful Dogger, which specialized in her portraits of family pets.

Jane brought the same spirit to her community in Canton and Collinsville. She started the town's annual Halloween Haunted House and spearheaded Sam Collins Day, whose popular art auction funded scholarships for college art majors. She also organized several musical productions at Canton High School. For Jane, the act of bringing people together and creating something was a central trait, and she was so well known for it in town that Bob often joked he was known as "Mr. Jane Leach."

In 2013, Jane and Bob retired to Southport, North Carolina. True to form, Jane did not slow down. She chose the locations and did most of the planning as they traveled through Europe, Canada, South America, Africa, and beyond, always more interested in the journey than the destination. She also threw herself into local service, including Habitat for Humanity's 50th house project, tutoring for Brunswick County Schools, and packing and delivering backpack lunches for Matthew’s Ministries.

Art infused everything Jane did, wherever she lived. Her large, colorful, and fragrant gardens remain beautiful places family and friends love to enjoy. A passionate reader, she had a gift for drawing others into the worlds of her favorite authors, sharing recommendations and sparking conversation.

Jane also had an amazing ability to build a close circle of friends. Friendship was an art she practiced daily, cherishing and nurturing those connections into lifelong bonds, undiminished by time or distance. Her interwoven community of friends in Canton and Southport will miss her dearly.

While Jane lived a full and active life, what mattered most to her was family. She is survived by her husband, Bob Leach of Southport, North Carolina; her sons, Colin Leach of Oakland, California, and his wife, Aubry Armendariz, and Graham Leach of Culver City, California; and her grandchildren, Julian, Vivian, and Otis, also of Culver City. She was predeceased by her brother, Stephen Lanning of Evansville, Indiana.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks, at Jane's request, that donations be made to PORCH Communities South Brunswick (www.porchcommunities.org/south-brunswick).

Jane believed art was never about the product, only the process. And so it was with her life: the art is in the making, and Jane made her life beautifully.