Poet, Journalist, and Mom. Jane became a Pen Woman in 1990
Jane Davis Carpenter died peacefully on Tuesday, August 28, 2018. She was 93 and receiving hospice care. Family members were present and there was music that she loved—Handel’s Water Music and her grandson whistling her favorite hymns.
Jane’s award-winning poetry appeared in the NY Times, The Bloomsbury Review, Good Housekeeping, Woman’s Day, The Denver Post and dozens of other mainstream and literary magazines. A frequent speaker and workshop leader, Jane presented her work in a variety of popular, professional, and academic venues. Her sixth book, What to Make of Silence, published in 2009 capped her career with a thematic collection of prize poems and favorites from throughout her career, which included winning the 1991 Ann Woodbury Hafen Competition. Reviewers called her work “beautifully crafted and conveyed” as well as “lighthearted and exuberant.”
A graduate of the first class at Fairleigh Dickinson College, Rutherford, New Jersey in 1944, Jane wrote the lyrics to the school song “Alma Mater” which is still performed today. Then it was on to Syracuse University where she graduated magna cum laude. She proudly wore her Phi Beta Kappa key necklace the rest of her life.
Jane was one of the first copy girls at the NY Times when many of the copy boys left to serve in the military during WW II. She recalled delivering mail to many noted writers of the day including Alistair Cooke who often offered her a cup of tea. Her journalism career grew, and she had many colorful experiences as a reporter at the Passaic [NJ] Herald News and the Syracuse [NY] Herald News.
Young Jane’s talent for writing even led to meeting the love of her life, Robert Carpenter, while helping him write a college paper. They married in 1949 and settled in Denver, Colorado. Bob skied and worked toward becoming a bank teller. Jane wrote advertising copy for a local agency, freelanced for newspapers and magazines, and led factory tours at the Sunshine Girl Scout Cookie Bakery.
In 1955, Bob and Jane bought a little house on Grape Street where they lived happily for decades in a close-knit neighborhood. Her extended family included the congregation of Salem United Church of Christ, located just a block from her home; she was an active member for over 50 years. At Salem, she wrote poetic Sunday school lessons and with the pastor, Chuck Wright, wrote new verses for an old hymn.
Jane was a member of the National Writers Club Denver Chapter, the National League of American Pen Women, and the Poetry Society of Colorado. She won a 1977-78 Rocky Mountain Women’s Institute Associateship residency grant in poetry.
Throughout her life Jane was a prolific letter writer. She kept in touch with family and schoolmates on the East Coast. She wrote to new friends she met traveling and kept up with friends from kindergarten even into her 80’s. She often added illustrations in the margins of the letters and even tucked in a poem or two. Jane’s diligent wordsmithing extended to notes to the milkman, her daughter’s teachers, and customer service departments—all were works of literary art that produced gracious replies, free products, and refunds!
Jane was genuinely encouraging, kind, and gracious. A “wild flower” in the truest sense, she bloomed and lifted her face to the sun wherever she found herself.
—-by Jane’s daughter Liz (aka Betsy) Gasper.