Sharon Ito's blog: Remembering a professor from UOP | People

Faithfully for years, I exchanged Christmas cards with Jan Timmons, a professor and administrator in the Communications Department at my alma mater, the University of the Pacific in Stockton.  Once a year we'd catch up through our Christmas cards.  She wrote about her retirement, the trips she took with her husband Roy, and as the years passed she wrote of Roy's failing health and his eventual passing.  And she always mentioned News10 in her cards, to let me know she was following my career and that she occasionally saw me or my husband (and colleague George Warren) on the news.  

In recent years, Dr. Timmons began sharing details of her own declining health and the kind neighbors who helped with her daily activities, who made sure she ate her meals and got her through the day.  So I wondered about Dr. Timmons when I didn't receive a Christmas card from her this season.  My own card to her didn't get returned so I assumed she got it and simpy wasn't up to the task of sending cards.  

This morning I picked up the university's most recent alumni magazine and started flipping through the pages when I spotted Dr. Timmons' photo.  Under the section, "Class Notes," was her obituary.  She passed away at her home in Stockton.  She was 80.  

I'll miss that bit of life and encouragement that arrived every year in her Christmas card.  Dr. Timmons was my connection to UOP.