Janie Neth, former Wilson teacher, dies
Jane “Janie” Neth, a longtime Costa Mesa resident, community volunteer and former Wilson Elementary School teacher, has died.
Neth, wife of Roger Neth, Costa Mesa’s first police officer, died Wednesday of pancreatic cancer in her College Park home. She was 84.
Neth taught at Wilson for 20 years. The Newport-Mesa Education Assn. honored her with its Beacon Award in 1975.
The accolade was one of several she received in her lifetime, Roger Neth said, though she never sought attention or the limelight.
“She used to say, ‘You do it because you want to,’” Roger said.
She always expressed a fondness for the Costa Mesa Police Department, which her husband led as police chief from 1964 to 1986.
The CMPD personnel were her “boys in blue,” Roger said, and “second only to her family and commitment to education.”
Neth also taught Sunday school at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach and served on the boards for the Harbor Area Girls Club (a predecessor to Girls Inc. of Orange County) and the Costa Mesa Junior Women’s Club, which honored her with the Woman of the Year award.
Neth was born Jane Beauchamp in 1929 in Santa Ana, where she grew up.
Roger recalled how, decades later, she still kept in touch with about 10 of her childhood friends. One of their favorite gathering spots was the Mimi’s Cafe in Tustin.
Neth first met her husband of some 60 years while both were students at Santa Ana College. They married in 1950. Neth later graduated from Cal State Long Beach.
The retired police chief recalled how his wife was hardworking and loved the outdoors, particularly southern Utah, where they owned a condo.
Neth loved hiking and her four-wheel drive Jeep — “When the road stops, I don’t want to have to,” she used to say. She continued hiking and driving herself to Utah until about a year ago.
“Camping was her life,” Roger said. “The outdoors was her life.”
At her College Park home, she loved tending to her flowers and garden.
When the Neths retired, they went on a traveling streak around the United States. They drove coast to coast and to every state except Alaska, Roger said, accumulating some 260,000 miles over 15 years.
He also credited her excellent cooking for his good health today.
“She made me exercise and fed me right,” Roger said.
Costa Mesa Police Chief Tom Gazsi called the Neths one of the city’s “iconic couples.”
“The department has reached out to support the Neth family during this difficult loss,” he said. “A number of personnel have been in touch with Roger personally, for which he’s grateful.”
In addition to Roger, Neth is survived by three children, Tom, Bobby and Janet; and two grandchildren, Scott and David.
No public services are scheduled. The Neth family plans to scatter her ashes during a private ceremony in Utah.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Hoag Hospital Foundation, 500 Superior Ave, No. 350, Newport Beach, CA 92663. The family asks that donations be made in memory of Jane Neth for the oncology nurses scholarship.
