Jane Carey (Fristoe) Brun
Jane Carey (Fristoe) Brun passed away on July 31, 2018 in Santa Barbara, California. She was born in Austin, Texas in 1920, and soon moved with her parents to “the Valley” where she grew up riding her horse ‘Billy’ along the Rio Grande river in rural McAllen, TX. She moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan to begin her education at the University of Michigan, and to marry another art student Chauncey Korten in 1940.
In Ann Arbor she and Chauncey built their own “case study” style house together, she followed her artistic interests, belonged to The Potter’s Guild and had three sons. After a divorce, she met Christian Brun, a librarian at the University’s Clements Library, and they married in 1958. Together they had another son and all relocated to Santa Barbara, California in 1963 where Christian became the Head of the Special Collections at the UCSB Library and University Archivist to the young campus.
Longtime residents of Goleta Valley, they loved the beaches, mountains, traveling and eating out at their favorite eateries. In 1979 Jane went back to school as she followed her youngest son to Santa Barbara City College, and then later to UC Santa Barbara where she completed her Bachelors degree in fine arts in 1985. Throughout her years in Santa Barbara, she was always engaged in artistic pursuits that included; painting, screen printing, modern dance and a dedication to her organic garden that surrounded their Goleta home. For decades, she took modern dance classes from Tosia Mundstock-Martin, a student of Mary Wigman and Martha Graham. And in later years she completed over five-hundred hours of instruction in multiple specialties of therapeutic massage at the Santa Barbara Body Therapy Institute. A life-long member of the UCSB Alumni Association, she was a longtime supporter of the Faculty Woman’s Club and a sponsor of several foreign students at UCSB. Her days where always filled with enthusiasm.
As evidence of her Southern roots she like to be called “Jane Carey,” and those roots of could always be stirred by the singing of “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” She became very interested in her heritage and for years explored both her mother, Sally Craven Storey, and father, Horace Monroe Fristoe’s family histories, tracing her mother’s side in South Carolina back to 1725, and her father’s side back to 1730 in Virginia. Her explorations led her to join the Daughters of the Confederacy and Daughters of the Revolution for a time, though she always said her interest was purely historical.
Jane Carey and Christian were well cared for in their last years together in Santa Barbara at Casa Cambria where they could enjoy the garden and mountain views. There the staff would play Jazz standards for her because she knew all the words to those songs.
Her family was always at the core of her life; the lives of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren brought her much joy. She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Christian Brun, on Oct 10, 2017, and her son Kenneth in 2015. She is survived by her sons Noel and Christopher Korten, and Erik Brun, nine grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Her three sons and their families have planned a private family sunset gathering to remember both Jane Carey and Christian Brun. In their spirit her sons ask simply that all who knew them feel encouraged to pursue their passions, enjoy life, seek wisdom, cherish love and behold the beauty with which we have all been graced.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the UCSB Shoreliners, whose primary goal is to promote social interaction throughout the university community and to raise funds for UCSB student scholarships.