Jane Estelle Lauer was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. After her father’s passing, her family moved to California and resided in Julian, where Estelle grew up. When she was 16 years old, she met her future husband, Ronnie Lauer. At first, she was not interested in Ronnie because he could not do the Jitterbug at the Saturday night dances, but he eventually won her over with his other merits.

When Ronnie left for the marines, Estelle went to college at College of the Pacific to become a teacher. During this time, Ronnie and Estelle were faithful pen pals, writing to each other daily. When he returned home, they were married shortly in December of 1954. To start off a lifetime of adventures, they honeymooned at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. This was the first time that they chose the path that was less traveled, and for the rest of their lives, their adventures were just as interesting as that first one.

Together, they successfully completed their life goal of touching every continent.

In 1962, they bought their family home in Lemon Grove where they spent the next 50 years of their lives. Estelle was involved in the Lemon Grove Players, and helped form the Lemon Grove Historical Society. She wrote a column for the Lemon Grove Review and was an ESL teacher for immigrants. She always found humor in everything in which she got involved, and she would regale her family over dinner with the latest funny story. Life with Estelle was a little like living with a stand-up comedian.

Estelle wrote books, always in partnership with the love of her life, Ron. Kanaga Diary: Lost in the Aleutians, 1938 contained the letters her father had written home before he was lost, and it received a Bronze Medal Award from the Military Writers Society of America. A Century of Gibsons chronicled the stories of her father’s side of the family. Maturation Rites was a collection of letters she had written to Ron in the early 50’s while he was a Marine cryptographer in South Korea and she was at College of the Pacific.

When Estelle and Ron moved to La Vida Real, they made more friends. Estelle always found people interesting, and she had a gift for asking good questions, listening to your story and making you feel valued.

Estelle’s lineage includes four generations:

· Her children - Joe Lauer (Ella), Jenny Dermody (Michael), and Margaret Scheib (Ken)

· Her grandchildren - Josh (Natalie) Scheib, Keith (Brooke)Scheib, Kylee (Devin) Pollard, Kevin (CJ) Dermody, Craig (Natalie) Dermody, Gilli Lauer;

· Her great-grandchildren - Brooke (Jake) Weingartz, Maria Scheib, Olivia Scheib, Nixon Scheib, Porter Scheib, Daxton Pollard, Evelyn Dermody;

· Her great-great grandchild - Adalyn Weingartz