The contemplative journey of Jeanne Cole

This former Lucasfilm exec created a new online venture, HolyOrders.biz, and is now devoted to a mission of giving

September 28, 2005

By BOB CANNING
FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER

When life hands you a lemon," goes the old saying, "make lemonade." But in Jeanne Cole's case, life handed her a jar of honey. But we're getting ahead of our story. The divorced mother of two grown sons has been on a journey of self-awareness that began when her mother died in March 1997. Then, 10 days before Christmas of that same year, with the tree in the living room ready for decorating, her youngest son, 13-year-old Travis, died in his sleep.

"He was born with Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome (a heart rhythm disorder)," Cole explains, "but he continued to amaze everyone -- including his doctors. My favorite picture of Travis was on the front page of the Argus-Courier, running in the 1995 westside relay, when he was a sixth-grader at McNear. He showed it to his cardiologist and said, 'Look at what I can do!'"

For the next two years, Cole "couldn't face another Christmas, couldn't stand to be in a shopping mall," so she buried herself in her work. The ex-TV weather girl has had as many careers as a cat has lives, or as she puts it: "I've lived many chapters in my book."

On her initial day as the first motion picture coordinator for the county of San Francisco under Mayor George Moscone, she got a call from the producers of the "Dirty Harry" movies. Cole recalls, "They told me they wanted to blow up a truck on the Third Street bridge. I remember hanging up and saying, 'Wow, this should be interesting.'" The next day she found herself on a fireboat heading to Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood.

One divorce and several part-time jobs later, Cole served as location scout for "Basic Instinct," and it was she who proposed the Petaluma locations used in the film. "I had to get permits and see the managers of all the businesses on Petaluma Boulevard. I was so impressed with how nice everybody was in this town." That's when she decided to move to Petaluma with her boys.

In 1994, after three years of part-time work at Lucasfilm, Cole was thrown into the full-time chaos of its publicity department, where she remained until October 2003. (Cole was one of the executives who first welcomed the Girl Scouts known as the Superb Seven to Skywalker Ranch in August 2002, and was "blown away by their business plan" to open a movie theater in Petaluma.)

"After awhile, I needed to get away from 'Star Wars' for a few days," she sighs. "I found this beautiful remote area in Northern California's 'Lost Coast' and stayed in the guesthouse of Our Lady of the Redwoods Monastery. The sisters there make the best honey I had ever tasted, and that was the germ of the idea behind Holy Orders."

But the germ didn't bear fruit until a subsequent trip to Umbria, Italy, where she was introduced to the "fabulous products made by the monks there."

Cole was walking the meditative Assisi Trail from Gubio to Assisi when the idea of Holy Orders took hold. "I figured if the Superb Seven, who were so dedicated and focused on their goal, achieved it, I knew I could do the same," said Cole.

So started the research and business travel. Deals were signed with Catholic, Episcopal, Russian Orthodox amd Hindu groups in the U.S., Venezuela, Italy, Bulgaria and Bali.

Cole says she's very selective. "Our products are high quality -- pure, organic, sustainable -- and, yes, more expensive. But they make for more meaningful gifts. I'm not interested in cheap, mass-produced plastic trinkets made in China with somebody's name slapped on them."

And presentation is important. Most Holy Orders items come in locally sewn white burlap bags, tied with black ribbons and finished off with quarter-size medallions called "little blessings," which is Cole's way of expressing her gratitude. (Cole herself delivers at no charge to Petaluma residents. "That way I can thank them in person," she says.)

Items start at $5 for caramels from an Iowa abbey and go to $60 for a jar of her best-selling hydrating body cream from Italy. Several "new offerings" have been added for HolyOrders.biz's first anniversary, including $12 candles emblazoned with the company logo, a nun driving a red tractor. Cole is donating 50 percent of each candle sold to Mercy Corps for its Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.

Cole admits she has yet to turn a profit, but "we're getting there, and I plan to grow slowly." She hopes to eventually discover opportunities with contemplative people such as Buddhist monks, and perhaps groups in the Holy Land.

Raised Catholic, Cole declares she is more spiritual than religious, but St. Francis seems to be her guiding light. "I was born, raised and married in the City of St. Francis. My boys were born there."

According to legend, the Assisi Trail in Italy -- where Cole got the idea of Holy Orders -- is where St. Francis tamed a wolf. "Travis loved wolves, he had pictures of wolves in his room, a wolf piggy bank, a wolf snow globe. It was as if I was meant to go there."

Another irony: Sept, 1, 2004, was the projected start date for www.HolyOrders.biz, but due to e-glitches, the Web site didn't flicker to life until Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis, who is also the patron saint of animals.

At 11 a.m. this Saturday, Cole plans to be at San Francisco's Grace Episcopal Cathedral for the traditional blessing of the animals, where she plans to hand out 3,000 Holy Orders medallions that were misprinted upside-down.

"I could've dumped them," she says, "but they make perfect tags for dogs and cats. And doesn't someone's beloved pet deserve an extra little blessing?"

(Contact Bob Canning at argus@arguscourier.com)