Meet Jane & GEORGE.
Jane’s light blue polo pops in stark contrast to George’s muted maroon one. In a way, they naturally complement each other – much like the vibrant hues in the landscape paintings hanging behind them.
“Don’t go so fast,” George tells me, “These are all my paintings.”
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When I ask, George says he doesn’t have a favorite.
“He’s never happy with his work,” Jane tells me. “But I have to tell you, I love
some of the stuff he’s done on cardboard, because it’s so spontaneous,.
As I photograph George in front of his work, Jane stands behind me,
making silly faces and willing him to laugh. This small moment is only a
glimpse into the joy and supportiveness of their relationship.
Jane and George aren’t the only couple living together in Friendship Manor. But their love story could easily be confused with fiction – it’s just that good.
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As it turns out, the couple has a decades-long history. They originally got married 42 years ago, but divorced on good terms when life got in the way. They simply wanted different things; George quit teaching to travel the world, and Jane was set on finishing her degree in Santa Monica.
George spent the years “following summer,” chasing warm weather wherever he could find it. He’s lived all over the world, travelling from Hawaii to New Zealand to England to Mexico. He’s a proud “shorts-only” kind of guy to this day – an avid hater of cold weather.
Jane and George made a point of staying in touch for about five
years after their divorce. Eventually, Jane remarried and had a
daughter, now 35, who George as a three-month-year-old. After
that, she didn’t see or hear from him for years.
But after her second divorce, she began to wonder.
“I wanted to find out if he did what I thought he was going to do,
which was be the global gypsy,” she said.
He had. But after a health scare, he’d returned to the States
to stay briefly with his daughter in Santa Rosa. His first ex-wife
lived at Friendship Manor at the time, and urged him to stop
by and see her.
He quickly fell in love with the place and got himself a room.
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"His paintings, he's never satisfied."
"You can't make this shit up."
Meanwhile, Jane’s curiosity continued to build. She connected with a former student of George’s on Facebook, who photographed their wedding years back. He responded that he coincidentally had plans for lunch with George (and his ex-wife) at a restaurant in Goleta.
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In what seemed like a twist of fate, that restaurant's name was Jane.
“This is real, you wouldn’t believe it,” he said. “No, you can’t make this shit up,” she laughed.
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Jane reached out from her cattle ranch northwest of Sacramento, where she was living at the time. She invited George to come up and visit, and he ended up staying for nine days. Jane presented another option as he was getting ready to leave.
“Hey, I’m going to housesit my friend’s place in Monterey for three weeks,” she said.
“We had a second honeymoon,” George added with a smile.
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After that, Jane invited George to come stay with him down in Santa Barbara, and she never left. That was over three years ago.
“In a way, we both found this place accidentally,” he said.
But getting Jane into Friendship Manor presented its own challenges.
She didn’t meet the minimum age requirement of 62 at the time.
So naturally, she snuck her way in through a loophole.
After doing some research, Jane came up with the idea to take a 10-hour, online course for $50 and move in as George’s certified caregiver.
“It took me three hours and I got a hundred percent,” she laughed.
The two have lived together in Friendship Manor together ever since. They happily share a suite-style apartment and an art studio in a separate wing.
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The paintings lining the hallway are just a few of the dozens George keeps in the studio’s closet. Most of them are “unfinished,” he says, as he’s never quite satisfied with them.
"We had a second honeymoon."
It makes sense that George’s standards are high. Over the years, he’s acquired four master’s degrees: Film, Fine Art, Education, and Ceramics. He only recently got the last one – Ceramics – from California State University Long Beach, while residing at Friendship Manor.
Jane’s an artist of her own volition too, spending her time in the studio making cards and sewing quilts. While she crafts, Ruben works on his paintings over on his side studio. He sometimes draws sketches of her on the backs of his canvasses, he tells me.
Drawers and drawers of brightly colored cloth and fabric line the studio’s drawers, promising endless projects for Jane. “I just have to live long enough to sew all this fabric,” she laughed.
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But Jane’s hobbies aren’t just limited to crafting. Up at her thousand-acre ranch, she’s recently begun growing over seven strains of marijuana. She’s even taught herself to make edible gummies using an infuser and coconut oil.
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"There's a lot of old hippies here."
“I have this rule which is that I will never sell it. If somebody wants something, they can buy the ingredients, and then I’ll make it, you know?” she laughed.
“There’s a lot of old hippies here, and if you need some good pot, they’re in the know.”
Friendship Manor means a lot of things to Jane and George. It’s where they’ve
fallen in love again, built a new life together, and discovered new passions in
each other’s company. It’s also where they’ve experienced loss and pain.
Last year, George’s first ex-wife Molly lost her battle with cancer. Jane and George had spent the year taking care of her. While George took Molly to daily radiation appointments, Jane brought by meals and helped with chores.
“People couldn’t figure it out, it’s like how are you taking care of his ex-wife?” Jane said.
“We’re a family,” she told me. “We made a family.”
