Jill Severn

Jill Severn died of natural causes early on 21 September 2026 in Olympia, aged 78. According to the obituary published by The JOLT and The Olympian, she had dealt with significant health issues in recent years and suffered a medical crisis two days before her death. Funeral arrangements were handled by Mills and Mills Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Olympia.

The League of Women Voters of Washington marked her death with a tribute to her textbook work and to Quixote Village. A memorial gathering with stories, music and food was held at 1 p.m. on Saturday 24 October 2026 at First Christian Church in Olympia. Her family asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Interfaith Works.

Jill Belinda Grubb was born on 4 December 1947 in Klamath Falls, Oregon, to Doris and Samuel Grubb. The family later moved to Portland, Oregon, and she was the youngest of their four children.

Her family described her as self-educated. Eager to see the world, she completed one quarter at the University of Washington and then left to start working in media while still in her twenties, as a newscaster and public affairs programmer for Seattle radio stations. A lifelong gardener, she wrote her book Growing Vegetables in the Pacific Northwest at the age of 30.

After her radio years, Severn spent about five years as a freelance journalist writing for publications focused on international affairs. She was a correspondent for Inter Press Service, a global news agency headquartered in Rome. The United Nations designated 1975 as International Women's Year, and much of her reporting in that period focused on women's lives. She reported on events at the United Nations and from five continents.

On the strength of that experience she was hired in 1981 as executive director of the Seattle World Affairs Council, a role she held for four years. Around the same time she hosted a music show on Classical KING FM 98.1 and was a staff columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Seattle Weekly.

She then moved to Olympia to work as a policy analyst in the Washington State Legislature, and later as a speechwriter for Governors Booth Gardner and Gary Locke. She also helped many other public officials reach the people in their communities. She served as an editorial writer for The Olympian, and for nearly 20 years worked with Karen Verrill of the League of Women Voters of Washington on The State We're In: Washington, the league's civics and state history textbook used by thousands of Washington schoolchildren.

In Olympia she became an advocate for Camp Quixote, a tent encampment that began after a 2007 protest in downtown Olympia. As a board member of Panza, the nonprofit that mobilised support for the camp, she helped secure about $3 million in grants for a permanent village. Quixote Village opened in December 2013 with 30 small cottages on county land on Mottman Road.

Her final professional role was as a columnist for The JOLT, the nonprofit Journal of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater. Jill Severn's Gardening Column ran most Fridays from 2 April 2021, using gardening and other subjects as metaphors for life, and she wrote more than 230 pieces before her columns stopped in May 2026. The JOLT's founder Danny Stusser credited her with lending the young outlet credibility and attention, and she spoke about her vision for local news at its Local News Day event in April 2026.

Severn's daughter, Jane Kindel, died before her. She was survived by her son Joshua Baker and his daughter Lorelei Baker, her granddaughter Jordan Knapp and Jordan's two children, her long-term companion George Walter, and nieces, nephews and cousins, as well as close friends her family called her chosen family.

She was known for gathering people from all corners of Olympia around her dinner table, and her family wrote that she was equally at home with leaders of state and local government and with the homeless friends she held close. She kept flower and vegetable gardens and a flock, and friends celebrated her retirement from The JOLT at an open house on 4 September 2026.

Severn's most visible legacy is Quixote Village, a permanent community of small cottages for homeless adults that grew out of the self-governing Camp Quixote she championed. The League of Women Voters recalled her admiration for how the campers used democracy to run their own meetings.

Through The State We're In: Washington, her civics writing reached thousands of young people and their parents, and through The JOLT she supported the rebuilding of local news in Thurston County. Her family wrote that they hoped her kindness and generosity would live on in all who remembered her.