Locals fondly remember Jaye Carr Locals fondly remember Jaye Carr (July 13, 2005)

City clerk had a reputation for efficiency, friendliness, a prodigious memory

By Rebecca Wallace

Almanac Staff Writer

Twenty-one years ago, a car heading home on Hedge Road in Menlo Park held one happy driver. Teary with joy, Jaye Marshall Carr couldn't wait to share her good news: she'd just been named Menlo Park's city clerk.

"I can still hear her honking the horn of her car as she rounded the corner," her husband, George, recalled.

The mother of two had worked for the city since 1971 as a part-time library employee and then as assistant city clerk. She went on to become a highly popular city official with a reputation for efficiency, friendliness and a prodigious memory.

When Ms. Carr retired in 1999, her luncheon attracted 100 people. Now, after her death from cancer on June 30 at the age of 64, many in Menlo Park are again paying tribute.

"She was one of the pieces of glue that held the city together. If you needed anything, her door was open," Harry Harrison, a former planning commissioner and longtime city council watcher, said last week.

Reporters saluted Ms. Carr for her inexhaustible knowledge of council minutia, and coworkers praised her work ethic in a job that required juggling meeting agendas, campaign finance statements and other records.

"She did most everything herself," said Pat Carson, an executive secretary at City Hall. "She would come in at 9 o'clock and I don't think there's a day she left before 7. She was very dedicated, very focused."

Except for the occasional chat about movies, Ms. Carson added with a smile in her voice, remembering Ms. Carr's fondness for John Wayne pictures.

Ms. Carr also retained her stoicism and sense of humor throughout protracted council meetings. It helped that her husband, an Atherton police sergeant, was sometimes available to escort her home in the wee hours.

In a 1999 Almanac article, she described a meeting held by flashlight after the power had gone out in the council chambers.

"Even God couldn't shut them down," she joked.
Lasting local ties

All told, Ms. Carr worked for the city of Menlo Park for 28 years. But her ties to the Peninsula lasted far longer.

A New York native who spent her early years on the family farm at Lake Skaneateles, she moved to Menlo Park in 1956 with her family. She graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School the following year and attended the University of California, Santa Barbara.

She married George Carr in 1960, and the couple moved to Menlo Park in 1963. They had two children, Christopher and Jennifer.

Ms. Carr held jobs at Varian Inc. and Ampex Corp. before starting her municipal career.

Her husband said folks at the city knew her for her kindness as well as her work: "always asking 'how are you' and she meant it."

Resident Reg Rice, a city transportation commissioner, agreed. "Everybody loved her and she never had a mean thing to say about anybody."

One of Ms. Carr's proudest moments, her husband recalled, was winning a Golden Acorn award from the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce for professional excellence in 1995.

She also found great joy in the annual vacations she and her husband took to Hawaii, he said.

Ms. Carr developed brain cancer in 1999 and underwent surgery, deciding to retire shortly afterward.

While the brain surgery was successful, Ms. Carr later developed lung cancer and her health began deteriorating last year, her husband said.
Jaye's place

Besides her husband and children, Ms. Carr is survived by six grandchildren. Her memorial is still being planned; Mr. Carr said he intends it to be public and will put out details later.

In lieu of flowers, the family prefers donations to the Peninsula Humane Society and the American Cancer Society.

Mr. Carr said his wife's service will certainly include displaying a watercolor painting that Reg Rice created in Ms. Carr's honor when she retired.

Council regulars often saw her taking a break at a favorite spot by the Civic Center duck pond, a setting depicted in the painting, "Jaye's Place."

In the 1999 Almanac story, Ms. Carr spoke fondly of the ducks: "When they quacked, it would almost seem like they were laughing at you, and it made you laugh at yourself."

E-mail a friend a link to this story.