|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Jean E. Heying Rusmore, a longtime Ladera resident and co-author of the hiking guide Peninsula Trails, died on April 1 at age 101 in Aptos.
Rusmore, who lived in Ladera for nearly six decades, was a person of wide-ranging interests, guided by her love for other people nature, and this fascinating world, according to an obituary written by her family.
"It's hard to say what I'll miss the most," said her daughter, Kaki Rusmore, in an email. "Her ability to see the good in every person and every situation, her deep love of nature and gentle way of sharing it, her generous, kind, open-hearted approach to the world and everyone in it, her commitment to fairness, her never-ending curiosity and her zest for life are just a few of the qualities that I and many others will miss."
Jean Rusmore was born in Sept. 13, 1920, in Anaheim to Mary Grim Heying and Oscar Heying, the oldest of four children, according to her family. Growing up, she helped out at her father's drugstore, and learned to swim and body surf in nearby Seal Beach.
In 1938 she enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in physical education and minored in French.
She met her husband, Ted Ruschhaupt, in 1938, at the International House, where they both lived. They married in 1942 and changed their last name to Rusmore.
In 1948, the couple was one of the first families to buy into Ladera. Jean Rusmore was a member of the Peninsula Housing Association, the cooperative that founded Ladera, according to a 2020 Almanac story. The couple built an Eichler-style home and raised six children there, according to a biographical page from a book compiled by the Walkie Talkies, a female hiking group Jean founded in the 1980s.
"My parents were very committed to it being a welcoming, diverse, family-friendly and engaged community," Kaki said, noting she was glad to see that covenants excluding Black, Indigenous and people of color were finally removed in Ladera. "I know my parents were both very committed to the diversity that was expected to be part of Ladera, and were heartbroken when banks would not loan without that restriction. … She had a wonderful ability to build authentic friendships, and continued to make friends in Ladera even after many of the original residents had moved on."
Wanting to make cycling and walking safer for children, Jean Rusmore and Artemis Ginston advocated for bike paths along busy Alpine Road, and she was dubbed the "mother of bikeways," for her role in making bike paths more common.
Kaki told The Almanac in 2020 that her father got her mother into hiking, and once she started, "there was no stopping her."
As a young mother, Jean Rusmore became friends with Ladera neighbor Frances Spangle, who introduced her to the League of Women Voters, according to a 2002 Almanac article. They took their children hiking and backpacking to county and state parks, and Rusmore joined the San Mateo County Trails Advisory Committee.
She was an early member of the Committee for Green Foothills and as part of the Sempervirens Fund and a founding member of the Ladera Recreation District, according to her family.
Conservationist Lennie Roberts became fast friends with Rusmore and her husband when she moved to Ladera in 1965.
"Jean was an early member of Committee for Green Foothills, and became the San Mateo County advocate for open space protection in the 1970s," Roberts said in an email. "When she decided to pursue a new career as an author, I took over the advocate job. Jean was a hard act to follow, as her enthusiasm, warm smile and laughter were tremendous assets in convincing decision makers to protect the Skyline and coastal areas of San Mateo County."
When Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District was formed in the '70s and began to buy new areas of open space, hiking opportunities grew significantly, but they weren't well-advertised, Rusmore told The Almanac in 2002.
Rusmore and Spangle wrote "Peninsula Trails: Outdoor Adventures on the San Francisco Peninsula," first published in 1982. Then came "South Bay Trails: Outdoor Adventures In & Around Santa Clara Valley" in 1984, followed by "Bay Area Ridge Trail: Ridgetop Adventures above San Francisco Bay."
She lived in Ladera until 2005, when she moved to the Vi at Palo Alto senior living facility before relocating to Aptos in 2017, according to The Almanac's archives.
Rusmore was preceded in death by her husband Ted in 2004. She is survived by their children, Mary Lyn Rusmore Villaume, Teri Rusmore Coppedge, Barbara Rusmore, John Rusmore, Kaki Rusmore and Margi Rusmore; 13 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
To honor her memory, the family suggests hiking a trail, contributing to a park or environmental organization or sharing some vanilla ice cream with friends.
A celebration of her life is being planned for June. More information is here.
