Jan Kjerne

Jan was born Janet Ruth Jurgensen in St. Paul, Minnesota while her father was in seminary. Her father’s suitability for the clergy was questioned by the seminary because of his pacifism, and he almost left the Lutherans to join the Quakers. Her mother was a teacher, writer, pastor and seminary professor. Jan started school in Deronda, Wisconsin in a two-room school house.

Her family moved to Minot, North Dakota, when she was 11, where she arranged the family books as a librarian would. She was already known as a “book-worm.” After she graduated high school, she went west to Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Other than a brief sojourn to Salem, Oregon with her then husband, Jan lived in Portland for the duration of her adult life.

While at Reed, Jan studied calligraphy with renowned calligrapher Lloyd Reynolds, and she practiced the art the rest of her life. Jan made name tags for those participating in Annual Session of North Pacific Yearly Meeting; additional name tags, signs and posters for Multnomah Meeting; and marriage certificates and other treasured documents as long as she was able.

She took a year in the middle of college to study at the Danish folk school in Askov where she picked up her enduring love of the Danish language. Years later, Reed College had an alumni trip to Scandinavia that Jan joined. She had a wonderful time, and documented the places they visited – including her beloved Denmark -- with photographs.

After graduating from Reed in 1973, she went to the University of Denver for a Master’s of Library Science. After graduation, she moved back to Portland where she worked as a librarian, a bookseller, and for the Oregon Department of Transportation.

Jan joined Multnomah Friends Meeting in 1976 when she was a young adult. Her hand-lettered request for membership simply, poetically stated,

Because I share the Quaker concerns and have come to know the good of worship’s movement from stillness, and because I want the outward to match as fully as possible my inward being, I would like to become a member of the Multnomah Monthly Meeting and the Society of Friends.

Over her many years as a Quaker, while participating in the life of Multnomah Meeting and joining in silent, expectant waiting worship, she still missed music and singing. For many years, Jan sang with the Scandinavian Women’s Chorus in Portland. This was a source of great pleasure to her, and when her health faltered she would assist any way she could even when she could no longer sing. She also became active in the St. James Lutheran church’s chorus – especially when they performed an annual series of Bach cantatas -- and bell choir, which she was also very happy to be a part of. When Jan's father died she commissioned a cantata in his honor, which was performed by the St James Choir, with many of Jan’s Portland friends present.

Jan was married in 1978 to Daniel Karnes; both she and Daniel took the legal surname Kjerne. The marriage ended after ten years.

Weaving and knitting were two other things that Jan greatly enjoyed. She also enjoyed sharing these hobbies with young people, and teaching them. Jan volunteered in a tutoring program called SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) for many years in Portland public elementary schools. She was very knowledgeable about children’s books, and was always happy to share her awareness and appreciation of intelligently written books with everyone.

Although Jan could sometimes display a difficult personality – perhaps tied to what Jan believed to be Asperger’s Disorder -- she quietly undertook many acts of generosity and kindness. One such act was her sewing of small, coffee bean-filled sachets for a member of the Meeting who was dying from AIDS; as his illness progressed, he could no longer drink his favorite coffee, but Jan’s act of kindness enabled him to smell it.

Jan suffered from declining health in her middle and later years, and took early retirement at age 55. Friends from the Quaker community helped her live independently until her final years, when she lived in assisted living and adult family home settings.

Jan is survived by her sister Marie, her brother Peter, and their families.