Jane Clare (Reeves) Souza
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announces with great sorrow the death of former employee Jane Clare (Reeves) Souza at JML Care Center in Falmouth on February 19, 2023. She was 97.
Jane was born to Gertrude Clare and Alfred J. Reeves on Long Island and grew up in Flushing, New York. She graduated from Bayside High School and worked for United Airlines as a customer service representative, a flight attendant on the inaugural DC-8 aircraft, and in baggage claim.
She met Matthew R. Souza in 1940 while his US Army squadron was patrolling Long Beach, Long Island, for Nazi submarines. They married in 1947 after Mr. Souza was honorably discharged from active combat service in Europe during World War II.
The pair moved to Falmouth in 1947 and established Cutting Corners Farm, where she lived for 75 years. Her first adventure on the farm was to help clear more than nine acres of locust and evergreen trees to create a pasture. Over the years, many animals would find a home there, including dogs, cats, sheep, horses, chickens, cows, a raccoon and Jody, an abandoned fawn found nearby.
Jane began her career at WHOI in 1947 as a secretary. She left in 1953. She also worked at the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Town of Falmouth before she joined The Falmouth Enterprise staff in 1955. Until her retirement in 1988, she served as bookkeeper and business manager. She also co-taught a series of ecology classes for Falmouth school students.
Volunteerism was an important part of her service to the community. Following the Hungarian Uprising of 1956, the Souza’s hosted a Hungarian high school student who maintained a relationship with them for many years.
Jane also served as a Girl Scout leader, a volunteer at Emerald House, and an elected member of the Falmouth Finance Committee. At St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, she taught religious education classes, visited parishioners as a Eucharistic minister, helped collect donations, and served on various committees.
She leaves her nieces, Mary E. Kienzle of Buffalo, New York, and Frances A. Kienzle of Osterville; and her nephews, Edwin P. (Scott) Zylinski, Eric Zylinski and Sean Zylinski, all of Falmouth; and other family.
In addition to her husband and parents, she was predeceased by her brother, A. Stanley Reeves; and sisters Ethel M. Kienzle and Ann E. Reeves.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, March 10, at 11 a.m. at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, 511 Main Street, Falmouth, Mass.
Family and friends will gather at the back entrance of the church at 10:15 a.m. to share memories.