Jane Mary Magiera

Worcester - Jane Magiera passed away on October 8, 2026, at the age of 79. She was born in Hawaii and lived there and in Florida before her family moved to the Fall River, Massachusetts, area. She lived in Freetown, Massachusetts, and attended Apponequet High School before heading to UMass Amherst, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology. While at UMass, she met and married her late husband, Ed Magiera, whom she loved dearly and always felt lucky to have at her side.

Jane and Ed purchased their first home in Northampton, but deciding the area was too busy, they left to find land in Maine where they could build a home. Together, they built a home and a barn in Surry, Maine, where they raised two children. There, Jane convinced Ed to build a huge garden and care for many animals, including cats, goats, angora rabbits, and chickens.

An avid lover of plants and nature, Jane attended the University of Maine, where she earned a second bachelor’s degree in soil science. She spent the next twenty-plus years raising her children and working as a site evaluator, assessing soil and designing septic systems. She took great pride in being one of the few women in a field dominated by men and had many stories about the interesting people she met and the places she visited while working along the coast of Maine.

After her children went off to college, Jane realized she wanted to pursue a different career—one that didn’t involve digging holes to test soil. In her fifties, she returned to school and earned her master’s degree in library science from Simmons University. She thought she might find a job in an academic library but ultimately ended up working in records management at Genzyme in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she handled international regulatory documents. She loved this job and all its challenges. She split her time between Cambridge, where she worked, and Ellsworth, Maine, where she and Ed lived.

Over the years, Jane enjoyed many hobbies, from baking bread and pickling to gardening, sewing, finding treasures at the Big Chicken Barn, caring for her houseplants, spinning fleece, and knitting. Her most beloved hobbies involved fiber arts, with knitting being her most constant activity. Her children fondly remember helping with these projects, and her daughter is immensely proud to have learned to knit from her mom and to continue sharing that connection.

Jane was a kind woman who lived her life with good humor. She will be greatly missed and always remembered by her family. She leaves behind her son, Andrew, of Carnelian Bay, California; her daughter, Amy, her husband, Dan, and their son, Ethan, of Worcester, Massachusetts; and her brother, Tom, of Marstons Mills, Massachusetts.

In Jane’s memory, her family asks those who have fond memories of her consider making a donation to the Blue Hill Heritage Trust in her honor.