Jane Mayhew Rust

Jane Mayhew Rust, 98, of Hingham, MA died on May 2, 2017 at her home. Mrs. Rust was born on January 4, 1919 in Canton, China, the daughter of the late John Wesley Mayhew and Helen Lee Mayhew.

Mrs. Rust was a world traveler starting at a young age. She spent time in Canton, Hai Phong (in northern Vietnam) and Saigon. When Mrs. Rust was about 4 years old, in Saigon, she recalled having fruit bats hanging from the electric wires on her bedroom ceiling and her father having to get them out by swatting at them with his tennis racquet! When she was about 5 years old, the family moved to the Kowloon District in Hong Kong and spent several years there. She also remembers the lively geckos on the walls and checking for spiders on the towels.

In 1923 Mrs. Rust’s family bought the Merrybrook home near Looks Pond in West Tisbury, MA on Martha’s Vineyard. In 1925, when Mrs. Rust was about 6 years old, her mother moved the children back to this home while her father continued work as an accountant for Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY) based in the Philippines. Mrs. Rust attended first through third grades in West Tisbury.

For the next several years (ages 8 -13 years), Mrs. Rust’s mother returned abroad to join her husband in the Philippines, so Mrs. Rust was sent to a French-run boarding school in Dalat (in southern Vietnam).

In 1933 the family returned to the Merrybrook home. Mrs. Rust attended the 7th grade in West Tisbury and grades 8-10 in Vineyard Haven. She finished her junior and senior years at The Walnut Hill School in Natick, MA.

Mrs. Rust went to Wellesley College (Class of 1940). As she was majoring in French, she spent her Junior year (Fall 1938 – Spring 1939) in Paris and lived with a French family. She recalls having to return home before she had originally planned due to the political tensions building in Europe at that time.

Mrs. Rust worked at the Liberty Mutual insurance office in Boston as a Claims Examiner until her father died in 1941, when she moved back to West Tisbury to be with her mother. During WWII, Mrs. Rust worked as an Administrative Assistant at the Red Cross office at the airport on Martha’s Vineyard.

Mrs. Rust married Eugene Rust of Boston, MA in 1949. In 1951, they built a house near World’s End in Hingham, MA where they would raise their family and stay for 58 years before moving to Allerton House in Hingham in 2009.

Over the years, Mrs. Rust and her husband established a second home on Martha’s Vineyard, where they spent the summer months with their family at their small cottage near the ocean at Stonewall Beach in Chilmark. Mrs. Rust enjoyed ocean swims, relaxing beach walks, tending to her lovely flower garden, and going on family fishing trips.

Mrs. Rust planned the ten-month long trip to Spain and Portugal where the entire family, including both young daughters, spent 1962/63. She also planned a two-month long family trip to Mexico during the summer of 1969.

Mrs. Rust was an avid downhill skier and was skiing into her 70s. She was an accomplished knitter and made numerous needlepoint pillows. Mrs. Rust loved to cook and mastered several Julia Child & James Beard dishes. She also was a voracious reader and loved crossword puzzles. She especially enjoyed playing bridge with her group at Allerton House.

Mrs. Rust is survived by her daughter, Lee Rust Dixon and her husband, John Robert Dixon, both of Middleborough, MA; her daughter, Susan Mayhew Rust, of Weymouth, MA; and her granddaughters Caitlin Dixon of New York, NY and Margaret Dixon of Pittsfield, MA. Mrs. Rust was predeceased by her loving husband of 61 years, Eugene Rust, in 2010.

Condolences may be sent by using the Bartlett Funeral Home website at: www.bartlett1620.com. The family will have a celebration of Jane Rust’s life for family and friends in Weymouth, MA at a later date. A similar private gathering will be held in Chilmark, MA during the summer. Donations may be made to the Hospice of the South Shore, 30 Reservoir Park Dr., Rockland, MA 02370.