ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt.— Jade Darius Wolfe, born Jeanne Sue Dunakey, passed away on December 26, 2020, after a long illness.

Jade was born on a hot day in August, 1955, in Clinton, the daughter of James and Norma Hayes Dunakey.   She graduated from Clinton High School, in 1973.  Jade continued her studies at Illinois Wesleyan University, in Bloomington, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, focusing on music, English and psychology.

From the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s, Jade had a fulfilling life as a musician and was busy in the field of social services.  She was an early pioneer involved in the area crisis team, drug education and hotline and worked tirelessly as a client advocate supporting victims of domestic abuse.

Jade knew how to practice what she preached and spent the late 1980s to the mid 1990s addressing her own mental health issues.  As if in reward, in 1996 the universe brought to her the woman who would soon become the love of her life.

Jade moved east, ending up in Vermont (Illinois with mountains she called it) where she married; and while continuing her music Jade also enjoyed being an artist and writer. 

Her life was never driven by ambition nor defined by money.  Jade was always ready and willing to go to the mat for anyone she cared about.  Throughout her lifetime, she was a fierce advocate for the vulnerable, as Anne Lauren says, “protecting children, respecting racial and sexual identities and differences and normalizing neurological and physical diversity.” 

Jade was preceded in death by her parents and survived by Roseanne Prestipino, her wife of 22 years. 

Donations in her memory can be made to your local food shelf.