Elizabeth Jane Strange

Jane Strange was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on May 18, 1930, to Otha and Adeline Clary. They soon moved to Ohio, where her father served as a Minister for several Disciples of Christ Churches over the years. In her youth, Jane was active in local and state Disciple youth work, serving as a state youth officer of Disciples and also of the state interdenominational youth council. She had a passion for music and frequently played the piano and organ or sang in church. In high school, she distinguished herself as an editor of the school newspaper, a cheerleader, and ultimately as the Valedictorian of her graduating class. Jane continued her education at Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma, where she double majored in Bible and Religious Education. At Phillips, Jane was a member of Zonta Social Service Club and served as President of Zollar Literary Society and Cardinal Key National Honor Society. Her academic excellence earned her the coveted state, regional, and national Parshad Awards, which provided scholarship funds for her years at Phillips. During her senior year, she became the first undergraduate female student sent out to serve a church on weekends as a youth minister.

Upon graduation, Jane received a call to be an Associate Minister at Central Christian Church in Austin, Texas, which was unique for that time because there were very few female Ministers. It was at this church in Austin that she met her first husband, David B. Owen. They married In April of 1954, and one week later, David was deployed by the Army to Korea and Japan for 18 months, where he primarily served as a JAG attorney. When David returned from service in Korea, they lived briefly in San Antonio, where Jane began substitute teaching for San Antonio ISD. They then moved to Fort Worth, Texas where David established his law practice and became specialized in school law, representing over 60 school districts, colleges, and private schools. His cases sometimes went before the Fifth Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court, the most important matter being the FWISD desegregation case. Jane’s first professional endeavor in Fort Worth came when she was enlisted by Brite Divinity School and all of the Tarrant County Disciple of Christ Churches to help establish, teach, and direct the first public kindergarten/nursery school and day care center in Tarrant County. This experience ignited her lifelong love of teaching.

During this period, Jane and David welcomed two children: a son, David Marc, born in 1957, and a daughter, Elizabeth Erin, born in 1961. Tragically, Marc passed away at age 36 from an embolism in 1993. When the kids were older, Jane attended TCU and acquired a Master’s Degree in education. In their spare time, the family enjoyed many outdoor activities together that were often quite adventurous, such as backpacking in the mountains of Colorado and along the Appalachian Trail, camping, hunting, and canoeing wilderness areas. Throughout her life, Jane was avidly involved with many professional, social, and church activities. In the early days, she served as PTA President, Campfire Girls Leader, Band Booster President, Texas Boys Choir Parents Club, Church Youth Group Leader, and Church Youth Choir Leader. She was Chief of the North Texas Scottish Clans twice, helped form and served as president of a business and professional group in the Fort Worth Woman’s Club, was president of one of the founding groups of the Woman’s Club, and was an officer of Fort Worth Friendship Force, participating in their international convention in Ireland.

Jane was also a long time member of South Hills Christian Church in Fort Worth, where she served in numerous leadership roles. She was president of Christian Women’s Fellowship (CWF), established a senior singles group, sang in the choir, served as a deacon, and twice chaired the elders. She also served as the church’s first female Trustee, co-chairing a community outreach building project and attending conventions. Jane dedicated 26 years of her life to teaching for Fort Worth ISD, only retiring in June of 2000 at 70 years old. She mostly taught middle school Reading, with the majority of her teaching career spent at Monnig Middle School. Her contributions to education extended far beyond the classroom: she served as president of a 200 member reading teachers association, was a core teacher in Writing, English, and Reading initiatives, led workshops, represented FWISD in a national project, coordinated curriculum for Reading and Social Studies for the district, and chaired a reading resources project for all FWISD schools. In 1991, Jane met and later married Leslie C. Strange, a retired aerospace engineer. When she wasn’t teaching, they enjoyed traveling the world together, being with family, and having special times with their grandchildren.

During this period, her dedication to education was so strong that she completed over 50 hours toward a doctorate in a 90 hour program to become a school superintendent, but her husband’s declining health and subsequent passing affected her decision to retire before finishing the program. In March 2014, Jane moved to independent living at the three care level retirement community of Highland Springs in Dallas to be near her daughter and grandchildren. Even in retirement, she continued to serve and be involved. Jane participated in choir, drama club, book review, writing, multi faith dialogue, resident life, and philanthropy committees. She taught an ESL class for employees, occasionally led singing at chapel, enjoyed lectures and concerts, and social groups like the “Elevator Girls.” Jane also loved playing in bridge and domino groups.

Jane is survived by her daughter, Erin Hagey of Plano, Texas; granddaughter, Tara Rosiles (husband Westyn), of Birmingham, Alabama; grandson, Brandon Hagey (husband Tristen), of Kirkland, Washington; stepdaughter, Judy Wenzel (husband Ken) of Euless, Texas; step-grandchildren, Steven Strange (wife Karen), and their children Ian and Susan; Jenny Tabor (husband Dave), and their children Kate and William; Lauren Biggan (husband John), Zander Wenzel (wife Lori), and niece, Pam Jordan.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Leslie Strange; her son, Marc Owen; her step son, Mike Strange; her parents, Otha and Adeline Clary; and her brother, Paul Clary.

Memorials may be sent to South Hills Christian Church of Fort Worth, Reading is Fundamental (RIF), the Alzheimer’s Association, or a charity of choice.