Who Are Those Guys?
By Marcia Peck
Jeanne Lacy
Jeanne, pronounced Jean, Cannon Lacy is a California girl, born and bred. She was an original valley girl, as she puts it. Born in Sac ramento, in l927, she spent her young years competing in horseback hunter-jumper competi tions, while her father ran a brick-making business. Against her mother's wishes, she enrolled at Berkeley, and went to college from l944-48. She recalls the tuition was $37.50 a quarter. Due to the war, there weren't many men around, except young sailors competing for the same classes. Harry Truman spoke at her commencement. Jeanne says, "I think we had a lot more fun in school then because we didn't have to have an objective when we went to school."
She returned to Sacramento and pursued her love of acting and directing plays, but soon her education paid off. Her father passed away and she worked in her father's brick plant and helped her mother. She met Lyman Lacy in Sacramento. He was into boats and had a speedboat. Says Jeanne, "All I can remember is always seeing his rear end sticking out of it, because he was always fixing something." When he stood her up on the 4th of July, she got so mad at him that he figured she loved him, so he proposed. They were married in l954, and Lyman took over the family brickyard. Three daughters followed, and soon the family started coming down to the Bay and bought a Tripp 30. While scoping out all the local clubs, in 1963 Lyman met Frank Brooks, harbormaster at the Corinthian Yacht Club. Lyman liked him so much, they joined the club.
They kept their boat on D line, with friends Evan Pugh, George Haggatt, and the Diependorch's. They would take their families out for a day on the bay, and the first boat back would send a kid to Tiburon Tommy's to make dinner reservations. It was a great life. They moved to San Francisco in l982, and at that time Jeanne recalls, "I still never really felt comfortable sailing." Then she started going out herself, and started sailing with women on different boats. As Jeanne puts it, "Women speak the same language." She learned well and took their boat out alone after that. Then the C&C 36, Shearwater, came into their life. They got her in Miami, and began their cruising adventures.
After practically sinking on their maiden voyage in the Caribbean, they went on to cruise the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, the Med, Turkey and Yemen, to name a 
few. Jeanne says, "You get to see people in their own space. It was so wonderful, my only regret was, we didn't keep on going!" Her advice to others: "If you are thinking of going somewhere with your boat, do it now! Don't wait." Asked if she had had any humorous experiences with her family, she recounted a story of their cruise in the Bahamas. They were anchored in Black Sound, and the wind was howling. Their chartered boat started drifting in the night and it was all hands on deck to reset the anchor. Unfortunately, Jeanne and her daughter only had tops on and Lyman was buck-naked. This might have been ok except for the big powerboat alongside that illuminated their work with his giant spotlight. Laughs Jeanne, "Funny, no one would look at us the next day."
As her husband's health declined, Jeanne kept their sailing life going, taking them sailing and to their beloved yacht club. Always the gracious lady, she managed everything competently with her ever-present smile. On her own, and a life member of the club now, she says of Lyman, "I miss the companionship and talking about things, but, I've had a great life. I would say, just laugh as much as you can, and enjoy the moment!"