Longtime Truro resident Jane Hutchings Peters, who worked for many years for Cape Cod Bank and Trust in Provincetown, died peacefully at the McCarthy Care Center in Sandwich on June 5, 2024, surrounded by her family. She was 81.
Daughter of the late Henry M. and Mary M. Hutchings, Jane was born on July 23, 1942 in Pittsfield. Her father was superintendent of the Pittsfield Cemetery, and she and her siblings grew up with the 150-acre cemetery as their playground. In an unpublished memoir, she recalled being “abandoned in the graveyard by her older ‘big bully’ sister before being rescued by her doting father,” wrote her daughter, Maria.
She graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1960, married the following year, and had two children. After her divorce in 1976, “she took her kids to the safest place she knew for healing: North Truro,” wrote Maria.
Jane found a job with Cape Cod Bank and Trust, where she worked from 1976 into the 2000s. She retired to enjoy life in North Truro with her husband, Mark, whom she married in 1981.
Jane taught her children “to love fiercely and never say goodbye … without saying ‘I love you,’ ” Maria wrote. She taught her children to honor the service of veterans and to treat everyone as an equal. “She taught us always to laugh,” Maria wrote, “even through the tears.”
Jane loved everything about Truro; simple things like going to the post office or to the dump or dining at Montano’s or the Whitman House made her happy. She lived next door to Truro Vineyards and used to share her famous pumpkin bread with the staff there. Every Thanksgiving she took her family on walks on the Pilgrim Spring Trail. She valued her memoir-writing groups at the Council on Aging.
Jane served on the boards of Helping Our Women, the AIDS Support Group, and the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. She was also a longtime member of the Truro Chamber of Commerce board and the Christian Union Church, which she claimed as her own as a descendant of its first minister, the Rev. John Avery.
After retiring, Jane worked at the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum, substituted at Truro Central School, cranked the ballot box at Truro elections, and helped to organize the 2009 Truro Tercentennial Celebration, her proudest achievement.
Jane and Mark traveled widely, and she loved gambling at Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, and Las Vegas. But her greatest joy in retirement was spending time with her granddaughter, Anneliese.
Jane always regretted not remembering the last time she told her parents she loved them before they died. “Our last exchange,” Maria wrote, “was ‘I love you’ and ‘I love you, too.’ She was a great mom.”
She is survived by her husband, Mark Peters of North Truro; son Gino and wife Kimberley Furlano and granddaughter Anneliese Furlano of Turner, Maine; daughter Maria Furlano Jones and husband Jeffrey Jones of Monmouth, Maine; sisters Sara Hutchings of Orleans, Alice Hutchings Brainard of South Hadley, and Mary Hutchings Snider of Portland, Oregon; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Jane was predeceased by sister Anne Hutchings Stetson Thompson and brother, Henry Stevens Hutchings.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the McCarthy House of Sandwich, CASAS of Provincetown, and the Christian Union Church are suggested.
