Skip to content

Born October 26, 1963 in Christchurch, New Zealand, died of a rare clear-cell metastatic ovarian cancer, in the Comox Valley on October 16th, 2018.

Survived by her husband of 29 years, Greg Oksanen, and their daughters Cate and Oona Wareing-Oksanen of Comox, as well as her mother, Sheila Wareing, and sisters Susan and Sarah Wareing, and predeceased by her father, Richard Wareing, all of North Vancouver. She leaves four nieces and many cousins with whom she was close, living throughout Canada and New Zealand.

Jane and her family moved to Canada in 1968 and grew up in North Vancouver, graduating from Carson Graham Secondary and Simon Fraser University, where she studied French and English literature. Jane loved travelling and adventure. It took her a long time to get her degree because she kept taking gap years to travel in the South Pacific and Europe. She had fond memories of attending a semester at the Universite de Grenoble and working at Vimy Ridge in France. In her student days, she worked summers as a BC Parks interpreter, a job she loved because it allowed her to do all the things she loved to do: nature photography, performing, hiking, and meeting different people. In 1989, Jane moved to Campbell River to teach French, and enjoyed her career there. In 1990, she and Greg married, and after living in Saratoga Beach for several years, eventually settled in Comox with their two young daughters. In 2006, they opened Living Room Pharmacy together. Jane was proud of designing the store, its website, publicity, and enjoyed sourcing its boutique products from around the world.

Jane's passions were her children, photography (especially taking pictures of and making photo books for her kids), gardening, and adventure travel. She loved to be outdoors, jogging and walking with her family in Comox's many parks. Nothing satisfied her more than getting out to prune and plan her next changes to the garden. Jane and Greg took their girls to discover New Zealand, France, Morocco, the American south-west, and many places in BC and Canada.

On the family's vintage wooden cruiser, Jane and her family explored marine parks in the Discovery Islands, Broughton Archipelago, Desolation Sound, and the southern Gulf Islands. Her family is blessed with a huge collection of photos from these fun field trips. Some of her adventures are recorded on a travel blog she started not long before becoming ill. Her insatiable curiosity and love of learning led her to take a lot of continuing ed courses, travel, and read voraciously.

She considered her children as her proudest accomplishment, and her greatest regret was not being able to see them grow older.

Our family, Jane included, would like to thank all the special people who supported us over the last year by bringing us dinners, conversation, cards, letters, and taking on errands. Congregation members of Comox United Church, the girls' teachers, old friends, and new friends, thank you for supporting our family. Thank you cherished chemo nurses of the CV Hospital, and thank you Dr. Carol Ostry for your tireless advocacy and support.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Comox United Church, November 3rd at 2:30 pm.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to Kus-kus-sum - Project Watershed (https://tinyurl.com/y7kzw6w8, or include "Kus-kus-sum/Jane Wareing in the memo of the check), or to the Pacific Salmon Foundation, in memory of Jane.

Service Details

Celebration of Life
Saturday, November 3, 2018
2:30 PM
Comox United Church, 250 Beach Dr, Comox.


Your condolences will be approved within one business day. You will need a valid Facebook account. Please email us if you have any questions.