Jane Andrews Warner Bean

Jane Andrews Warner Bean

WEST CORNWALL — Jane Andrews Warner Bean 76, beloved wife, mother,  grandmother, and sister (chef and gardener extraordinaire), died peacefully at home on Aug. 15, 2022. Her husband David L. Bean was at her bedside. Her daughter Chandra Casteel (Pip), sister Anne and brother-in-law Joseph Kugielsky were with her, as was her best friend, Patty Bramley.

Jane was born in Minnesota, but grew up in Darien. She attended Darien High School, then went on to earn her degree in behavioural science and English at Doane College, Crete, Nebraska, where she met her husband of 54 years, artist David Bean.

Jane, known throughout the Cornwall area for her kindness and industry, was a sought-after caterer — her unique dishes were loved and appreciated by the community.

She began her business, The Serene Bean, in Cornwall, answering an unmet need of helping people who could not venture out by bringing them food, cooking and driving to appointments.

While Jane was known for her cooking abilities, she was also an accomplished writer who contributed pieces to The Lakeville Journal,  and other publications. She won an award for her three-part series on Northwest Corner residents who have joined the clergy as a second career from the New England Newspaper & Press Association.

She was a poet and writer who also enjoyed community involvement and discussions on the Cornwall Network chat room. Jane loved gardening, mysteries and planning their next trip. She was a member of the Friends of the Library and often entered her blooms into the Cornwall Garden show, where she was frequently awarded prizes.

Jane is survived by her three grandchildren, Gabe, Eli and Lilly-Jane Casteel-Lopez, her nephews Ben, David and Noah Kugielsky and her nephew, Richard Melville Hall (better known as the musician Moby).

There will be a celebration of Jane’s life on Sept. 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Tim Prentice’s barn, 129 Lake Road, West Cornwall. All are invited to come, bring stories and photos and celebrate this extraordinary person.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to SVNA Home Assistance, 30A Salmon Kill Road, Salisbury, CT 06068, in her name.

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less