In Remembrance of Jan Schwaner

I met Jan Schwaner because of our shared love of music.  An avid cellist, Jan joined the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra in 1994.  We became fast friends, playing in chamber groups together.  While our string quartets rarely performed, the joy was in the sight reading and rehearsing, and talking about families, jobs, lives – it was wonderful.

We shared a passion for knitting, meeting often to knit together, helping each other with choosing patterns, yarns, and tricky knitting techniques with lots of laughter, coffee or tea, and often home-baked cookies or cakes to keep our energy up!  We traveled to local yarn shops and yarn shops not so local in Northampton, MA and West Lebanon, NH. If the weather was nice, we would walk down to Caffe Nero in Wellesley Hills and sit outside with our knitting and cappuccinos.

We loved going to museums, with Jan taking that a bit further by becoming an access guide at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. We traveled to New York City several times to see special exhibits, and to attend some operas at the Met, of course. Our most memorable trip was to Amsterdam in 2023 to see an amazing exhibit of paintings by Johannes Vermeer at the Riijksmuseum. We walked all over the city, visited lots of other museums, including a side trip to Delft, and enjoyed delicious meals. Jan was a seasoned traveler and fantastic guide, making it a wonderful trip.

When Jan retired from her career as a pediatrician, she joined me in attending the summer Chamber Music Conference of the East at Bennington College, and at Colgate University since 2022.  We drove up and back together every year, until this year, when I had to get a ride home from a very kind participant at the conference.

Jan loved playing in the orchestra and joined on the WSO board in 2006.  She was a great resource, generously stepping in when I was out sick for concerts, and helping with a myriad of unseen details that bring our concerts to life. 

Beyond her life as a musician, Jan was an incredibly caring, warm woman. She helped me and many other friends when we were struggling with ill health or family tragedies.  She took care of things, bringing food and flowers, so you could focus on healing. 

Jan’s passing leaves a hole that will not be filled, but there are many wonderful memories that I cherish. Jan was a caring, loving person who will be missed by all who knew her.

- Carol Davidson

top and cover photos courtesy of Andres Levia

quartet photo courtesy Chris Ten Eyck