Ms. Jane Neel Foster, age 79, of Savannah, died of pancreatic cancer on Thursday, February 5, 2026. She passed peacefully, surrounded by her husband and children. She was born on September 18, 1946 to the late Joseph Hudson Foster, Jr. and the late Jane Bolton Foster, in Atlanta, Georgia. Neel grew up in Newnan, Georgia. As a girl, she loved climbing trees, reading, and catching the latest cowboy movie at the Alamo theater. She graduated from Newnan High School in 1964, and in 1969 earned her Bachelor's of Fine Arts at the Memphis Academy of Arts, where she specialized in sculpture.

Neel honored creativity, joy, and love. She pursued her own path with common-sense, respect, and grace, even when it meant going against what others expected of her.

Throughout Neel’s life, her roles and pursuits varied. Professionally, she taught art in a public high school in Griffin, GA, worked for Georgia Public Broadcasting in Atlanta as a set designer, and was the manager of the Engineering department for Diebold, drafting layouts and plans for clients. (A favorite story: As one of the few women in the office, Neel was expected to make the coffee, despite being a department manager and adamantly disliking coffee herself. Neel intentionally made terrible coffee a few times; her coworkers stopped asking her after that.) Personally, she married three times. Though the first two marriages were not the right fit, the second time around she found joy as a stepmother to two stepdaughters, Zoe and Amy. In 1980, she met Donald “Don” Robelyn Stuber. During their courtship, she trained for and completed a “Tinman” triathlon with Don as her Coach. She and Don married in 1983, and their oldest daughter Ouida Stribling Stuber was born in 1985. They moved to Savannah in 1986, where their second daughter, Chloe Elizabeth Stuber, was born in 1989.

In Savannah, Neel raised her daughters, created art, and taught private art lessons to children and adults in the community, first, at City Market, then in a spare room in their Wilmington Island home, and then finally from the incredible Mule Barn Art Studio built in their backyard. For Neel, the acts of dreaming, creating, sketching, and building works of art were her joy and delight. She was multitalented and adventurous; she worked with clay, painted, drew, created encaustic works, welded, crocheted, and built sculptures from all sorts of materials (wood, metal, found objects), to name a few of her many skills. Her art was often vibrant and playful; she followed her own artistic visions and encouraged others to do the same. She valued and respected each person’s unique creative instincts. She wasn’t interested in what art was “supposed to look like.” She encouraged her students to find their own voices and styles, and delighted most in the unexpected, wild creations from children’s imaginations. When her own children were in elementary school, she worked with her daughters and the neighborhood children to build from wood scraps and left over paint a bench in the shape of an abstract dragon. The dragon bench, named “Pepto”, was a vivid pink with bright splotches of color. It stood in her front yard and was a local landmark and school bus stop for many years.

Neel delighted in her community and home in many ways: she was a long-time host and leader of the Renegade Readers, she rowed for several years with a crew of women with the Chatham Area Rowing Association, and, with her team “The Hot Flashes”, she participated in the Dash for Divas relay triathlon. She loved enjoying a hot cup of tea and watching the birds through her kitchen window. She found great joy in music. She loved dancing, singing along to her favorite Tina Turner songs, and listening to music from all over the world while creating in her studio.

Neel never preached; she practiced. She found opportunities to include and lift up her neighbors, particularly the folks on the margins of society, and through those efforts found long-lasting friendships and honorary family. She served as an Advocate and active supporter of Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy for nearly 40 years. She also served her community through service and music as a long-time active member and ruling elder of the First Presbyterian Church (FPC) of Savannah, where she was beloved by many in their congregation and received an honorary lifetime membership to the Presbyterian Women of PCUSA. She provided meals for unhoused families through the Interfaith Hospitality Network, contributed art to church services and celebrations, and organized art exhibit fundraisers for children facing food insecurity. She enjoyed being a member of the hand bell choir at FPC for many years, and she loved to sit quietly and absorb the special music programs that the church offered through their Music with a Mission program, which would often move her to tears. She and Don also volunteered with the Inspiritus Refugee Services program in Savannah. When a family from Burma moved to Wilmington Island 17 years ago with assistance from Inspiritus, Neel and Don offered to help where needed: navigating unfamiliar systems and driving the kids to church and piano lessons. From there, their relationship with one family grew to include several families; they were both “adopted” as honorary grandparents and Neel was affectionately known as “PiPi”.

In addition to her parents, Neel was preceded in death by her brother, Richard “Big R” Bryan Foster. Her surviving family includes her loving husband of forty-two years, Don; her two daughters, Stribling Stuber (Andrew Whelan) and Chloe Stuber (Ian Rossiter); her brother Joseph Hudson Foster, nieces and nephews Jane Foster Powers, Richard Bryan Foster Jr., Bryce Rogers Foster, and Charles Bryan Foster; her honorary family Neng Khai, Zam Don, Dim Deih Sian, Thawn Mang, Man Lam Vung, Do San Nuam, Vung It Kim, Pau Thang, Cing Nem, Man Sian Nuam, Do Sian Khai, Lun Sian Cing, Pau Mang, Khup Lian, Do Langh Tuang, Cin Deih Khual, Man Sian Tawi, Lun Sian Zuun, and Thang Kip Sang; former step-daughters Zoe Voigt and Amy Stern; and many other beloved relatives and dear friends.

A memorial service celebrating the life of Jane Neel Foster will be held at First Presbyterian Church of Savannah, 520 Washington Avenue, on Sunday, February 22nd, at 3:30 PM, followed by a reception at the church featuring a selection of Neel’s art. For those unable to attend in person, the service can be live-streamed at this link: https://vimeo.com/event/5725066.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Chatham-Savannah Citizen Advocacy or to the Inspiritus Refugee & Immigration Services Program (Select the “Refugee Services” Fund). Finally, Neel’s family would like to thank everyone for the cards, visits, thoughtful gifts, and prayers during her illness; Neel truly felt your love.