Jane Marie Payne (Linnemeyer), 82, died peacefully at her home on May 17th, after a short battle with gall bladder cancer. Born September 30, 1940 in Jamaica Queens, N.Y. to Charles Conrad and Jean Harvey Linnemeyer, she was predeceased by the love of her life and husband, John Edward Payne in 1999.

Jane spent her youth on Long Island’s south shore and graduated from Southside High School in Rockville Center, New York (Class of 1958) and became an administrative assistant at a doctor’s office. It was through that role that Jane realized her true calling was nursing, so she enrolled and graduated from the Queens Hospital School of Nursing where she worked off her tuition through hours of operating room, obstetrics and general floor nursing. She proudly maintained her Registered Nurse licensure in both New York and Connecticut until the day she died.

After following her husband’s dream of having greenhouses, land and a larger scale business, they uprooted their lives and family to buy 9 acres in Newtown, Connecticut, where they built Payne’s Nursery in 1969. With a family-owned business, Jane added several new roles to her nursing skill set. She held the title of operations manager, payroll leader, procurement chief, finance manager and CEO of the businesses they created. Needing to be home in the middle of the day, Jane joined the Hawleyville Post Office as a clerk, working the early and late shifts of open/close. Her friendly smile, genuine caring and attention to keeping her massive wooden cash drawer tied out to the penny, Jane spent 27 years sorting envelopes, mailing packages, selling stamps, and enjoying every single customer who entered that lobby.

After losing her husband, John, to a brief illness at the age of 58, she retired from the post office but missed the evening chatter of dinner conversation. Once again, Jane embraced her nursing roots and found a role as a medication nurse for Bethel Healthcare, where she worked evening shifts from 3-11pm, covering most holidays so the younger Moms and Dads would be able to spend time with their families when it mattered most. She worked for Bethel Healthcare for 13 years until she injured herself helping a patient and retired for good — or so we thought...

On her 78th birthday, Jane announced to the family that she was going back to work for the Danbury Flu Clinic, providing immunizations at schools and for people who needed them. She was so good at giving shots that she used to take all the children because they wouldn’t feel anything. She worked that role until the Covid-19 pandemic, where she was sidelined due to her age. Boy, was she mad about that! She complained, “let me be the one to get it, keep the young nurses home with their families.”

Over the course of her lifetime, Jane made countless friends and acquaintances just by bringing her smile and generous ways to their lives with her routine shopping circuit of Caraluzzi’s, Bethel Big Y, Newtown Savings Bank (Stony Hill branch), the Hawleyville Post Office and back again. There was no limit to the hands she held while nursing, the hugs she gave, the crocheted wedding hankies or the flannel baby blankets she sewed for people who were expecting. She gave of herself like no other and nothing brought her more joy than being a Mom and Nana to her family and friends who she treated like family.

Jane is survived by her two proudest accomplishments: her loving children, Janice Payne Stock and Charles Edward Payne and their wonderful spouses, Matthew Stock and Michele Payne, all of whom she adored with her entire being. She believed that all children were a gift from God, and she was blessed with six grandchildren: Ben Payne of Southbury, James Payne of Aurora, Colorado, Jane Stock and her husband Lance Kreizer of Fairfield, Conn., John Payne of Newtown, Sarah Payne of Newtown, and Charlie Stock of Woodbury, Conn. She is also survived by her first great-granddaughter, Rylynn Payne; her sister Judith Fucci of San Diego, California; and several nieces and nephews and several godchildren.

While Jane loved flowers (because they reminded her of Payne’s Nursery), she felt they were highly impractical and expensive so “please save your money” and donate to your favorite charity instead. If you need a suggestion, please consider the Hawleyville Volunteer Fire Company, PO Box 68, Hawleyville, Connecticut 06440, where Mom participated in the Ladies Auxiliary and enjoyed the company of many great friends at their annual clam bake. A joyful celebration of Jane’s life will be held at a future date at the convenience of the family.

Please do not mourn Jane’s passing; rather, harness that emotion into kindness to pay it forward to someone who really needs it. She found her purest purpose in life by delighting everyone around her and her legacy will live forever through those her kindness touched.