Oct 14, 2019
Born
in England, Jane 'Spider' Fawke grew up watching American Westerns
at a Saturday morning program near where she lived. It wasn't John
Wayne who captured her attention, but the beautiful vistas of
Monument Valley in the
background.
Growing up poor, Jane gravitated to the fashion
scene in Paris after graduating from the Royal College of Art with
a Masters in Fashion & Textile Design. After some encouragement
from a friend, Jane moved to New York.
Jane
came to America after 10 years in the ready-to-wear industry in
Paris, France and speaks fluent French and Italian. She designed in
the US for another 15 years. Then, sensing the onslaught of
'throw-away' fashion, Jane pursued her second dream, to become a
Park Ranger. She started by volunteering to be on a team that spent
long hours daily creating defensible space - clearing weeds, grass
and brush. The first day she came home exhausted and after a good
night sleep, woke up excited to return and continue her work the
next day.
Jane
and her husband, Alan, bought their desert home in 2005, and moved
here full time in 2015, two years after her
retirement.
Jane
received her Desert Naturalist Certificate from UC Riverside in May
of this year and does a lot of volunteer work with kids – and
recently worked with the JT Clean Team, cleaning up Tortoise Island
in downtown Joshua Tree.
In this
episode, Jane also tells a story about an early tortoise
sighting at her property and the interpretation from a friend, a
Hopi Chief.