Wendy June Jacobs

Wendy June Jacobs, 76, Mission, Kansas, passed away on July 11, 2026. A private memorial service is planned.

Wendy was born January 27, 1950, in White Plains, NY. She spent her formative years in the 1960s growing up in St. Joseph, MI, graduating from St. Joe High School in 1968. The “Summer of Love” (1969) followed shortly and it was this period that would influence her ideology for the rest of her days. Shortly after high school, Wendy exhibited her entrepreneurial skills, opening one of the area’s first psychedelia shops, complete with black light posters, lava lamps, deerskin jackets and other paraphernalia of the times. She moved to Lancaster County, PA, in the 1970s, where she and her mom designed and sold macramé jewelry at art fairs throughout the region. Wendy then spent several years traveling the country in a VW minivan, divesting her possessions and accumulating the wealth of experience. Can you dig it? Wendy truly did, and taught the rest of us a lesson or two in keeping it real.

Wendy settled down in the Kansas City area in the 1980s, where she applied her skills as an artist and calligrapher, working for sign shops and doing freelance artwork. Living in the suburbs, Wendy turned to camping to satisfy her minimalist instincts. She loved camping at the local reservoirs, but her fondest camping memories may have been the Dogstock Music Festivals, held in Melvern, KS, in the summers of 2006 and 2007.

In 2000, Wendy combined her entrepreneurial spirit and love of the outdoors by purchasing 50 States Bird Feeders in Mission, KS, which she operated almost single-handedly (“with a little help from her friends”) until 2010. There she made many friends and acquaintances she kept for years. When not attending to her work, family (including many pet cats), or a campfire, Wendy loved jigsaw puzzles, listening to music, and backyard birding.

Wendy was preceded in death by her father Edward George Faile III. She is survived by her mother Margaret Mary Crawford; son Jesse Michael Crawford; grandchildren Cody and Allyson; and nephew Ian. She also leaves a sister Barbara Faile; brother Scott Faile; and brother Ted Faile and wife Diane. Wendy was truly a live-and-let-live person, and she will live in our hearts always.