B. Jane

Roop

BETTY JANE ROOP Author, poet, broker, wife and mother, B. Jane Roop died June 19, 2017 at her home in Kennewick, ending a seven-year struggle with cancer. She was active in the American Association for University Women, in the Insight Meditation and Yoga communities, and various writers' groups. She was a broker, for over 30 years, most recently for Continental Investment Services. Jane was born to John Harold and Lottie Gertrude 'Betty' (Wolfenbarger) Reed May 17, 1944 in Wichita, Kansas. After leaving the Navy, John moved his family to Richland, were he worked as a plumber at Hanford. His family lived in North Richland in the world's largest trailer court in the 1950s. Faced with multiple layoffs, he returned to the Navy moving his family to California and Midway. After leaving the Navy a second time, he moved, again, to the Tri-Cities, settling in Kennewick. Jane graduated from Columbia High in 1962 and attended WSU, the first in her family to go to college. There she met a graduate student, Joe Roop. They were married September 4, 1965 in Pullman. Jane graduated with a degree in English and worked in the Washington, D.C. area while her husband was in the Army. They returned to Pullman in 1968 where their daughter, Beth, was born, June 3, 1969. On Joe's graduation, they moved to Berkeley, California for two years, then to Washington, D.C. for six. While there, Jane went back to school and earned an MBA. In 1981, they moved to the Tri-Cities, where Joe had been hired at PNL. Jane decided she would become a securities broker when there was only one other female broker in the Tri-Cities, and did. Jane and Joe spent nearly two years in Paris, 1989-1991. While Joe worked for the International Energy Agency. Jane fine-tuned her writing skills completing her first novella. She also embraced the French love for food and presentation, both of which became her life-long passions. She put her writing aside on her return, but only for a while. In the mid-1990s she joined a number of writing groups and turned her hand to poetry and prose. She published three novels, and finished a fourth, which will be published soon. She had many poems published, one of which, North Richland Childhood, was part of the "Particles on the Wall" traveling exhibit. She was active in AAUW from the 1980s, and was one of the founding members of Insight Meditation of the Mid-Columbia. She volunteered at Hospice for five years and volunteered at the prison in Connell, where she shared her passion for meditation and reflection with inmates. She is survived by her husband of nearly 52 years, a daughter, Beth Perez of Kingston, two grandsons, a sister, and a niece and nephew. No service is currently scheduled, but a celebration of her life will be held later, tentatively scheduled for the first weekend in August. In lieu of flowers or cards, a donation to the Joe and Jane Roop Scholarship at WSU would be appreciated. Published in Tri-City Herald from June 24 to June 25, 2017