Jane Standifer Thomson

March 28, 1932 – December 23, 2020

Jane Thomson was born Emma Jane Standifer on Easter Sunday, 1932, in Elk City, a small town in western Oklahoma – delivered by her father, Dr. Orion C. Standifer.

From these humble beginnings, no one could have anticipated how far Jane would travel, how strong she would become, how many times she would reinvent herself, and how many lives she would touch.

As the youngest of four children, Jane grew up in a large comfortable home with her own horse in the back pasture. Her mother, Genevieve, taught her to sew, quilt, and play bridge. She studied piano, had a strong singing voice, and was an active member of the Elk City First Presbyterian Church. Her father said he once heard her in his office singing "My Buddy" through the PA system at a park festival from across town. Her mother loved to drive and took the family on summer road trips all over the U.S. from Boston to Los Angeles. After graduating from high school in 1950, Jane attended the University of Oklahoma for a year before transferring to Oklahoma State where she met Alan Thomson in the Stillwater First Presbyterian Church choir.

Soon after they met, Alan mailed back his draft card to protest the Korean War. As a conscious objector, he instead chose to serve overseas through the Alternative Service Program. Upon graduation, Alan was instructed to move to Tehran, Iran for three years to teach at an American school that served the American Embassy. Jane and Alan decided to get married rather than wait for his return, and off they went. This first overseas trip would set the stage for years of global experiences to come.

Following their return to the U.S, Alan enrolled in the doctoral program at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and Jane completed her studies at Hunter College from 1955 - 1956. During this time, Alan decided to enter the overseas mission field. Their first son, Geoffrey Andrew Thomson, was born in 1959 in New York City. Their second, Martin Standifer Thomson, was born in 1960 in Atlantic City, NJ while they were living in temporary missionary housing in nearby Ventnor awaiting their mission assignment.

With sponsorship from Jane's hometown church, early in 1961, Alan and Jane, with two toddlers in tow, boarded a plane bound for Indonesia and began their service, with Alan teaching biblical history at a seminary in Malang on the island of Java. Their third son, David Edward Thomson, was born in 1963 in a Dutch hospital in Kediri, about a half-day drive away. Jane was in labor long enough that Alan had to travel back to Malang to manage the two boys, leaving Jane to give birth alone.

Shorty after that Alan took a new assignment at another seminary in Java's second largest city, Djokjakarta, and the family moved again. Jane set up house in a cozy three-bedroom with three servants and no indoor plumbing. Jane kept in touch with family back in the US via letters and a reel-to-reel tape recorder messages – sending tapes to her mother of the goings on and interviewing the boys. She made lasting friendships with other missionary families from around the world including the Fletchers from France and their six children. The two families would take short trips and celebrate holidays together.

With boarding school as the only available education option, Jane began home-schooling her children. She taught Geoffrey through the fourth grade and Martin through second, but came to realize that her boys were missing out on the broader opportunities and experiences afforded by in-classroom education. In 1969, after much discussion, Alan took another position as Director of a Foundation in Singapore that provided funding for seminaries throughout Southeast Asia. Singapore had an American school for the boys, as well as running water, grocery stores, and a stable electric grid.

Several other missionary families lived close by making a nice community for the family. The Koyamas and the Garrets were especially good friends during this time. Although in many ways a very modern city, Singapore was a very restrictive, business-friendly society that frowned upon dissent of any kind. So, in 1973, when Alan was pictured in the Straits Times making a poster for a protest against the Vietnam War in front of the U.S. Embassy, it didn't take long for the government to take action and evict the family from the country.

With no where else to go and very little time to plan, they moved to Hong Kong where friends set Alan up in an office at the Chinese University of Hong Kong where he spent a year finishing work on a text book. They found a small house in the suburb of ShaTin and the boys were enrolled for a year in British schools.

In the summer of 1974 Alan secured an interim position at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, CT. By the beginning of the school year the boys were enrolled in inner-city public schools, and crammed into married student housing on campus. Jane took a job at the Yale Divinity School library as an archival assistant, beginning a career that she would return to again and again. In 1977, she moved on to a job at the Manuscripts and Archives section of the Yale Sterling Library.

Adjustment to life in America was challenging for the whole family. After three years, the University did not renew Alan's job and the family moved to a small house across town. Jane's job at the Yale library and the medical benefits it included kept the family afloat through a series of medical crises. Alan eventually found work at the Philadelphia Historical Society in Philadelphia, commuting home to New Haven on the weekends, but the emotional stress had taken its toll.  And, there was a house fire that destroyed most of their belongings.

Eventually Alan found a new home and, in July 1978, the family moved to Germantown in Philadelphia where Jane would remain for the rest of her life. Shortly after arriving, Jane found work at historic Wyck House, the oldest house in Philadelphia, organizing the Haines family papers. She also served as a docent and helped decorate the house for seasonal occasions.

In the fall of that same year, the family joined Summit Presbyterian Church in Mount Airy, Philadelphia, at the recommendation a member of the church, Dr. William M. Miller, a missionary whom Alan and Jane had met in Iran in the 1950s. At the time, the church was without a regular pastor and Alan stepped in along with several others to preach on a rotating basis. Jane was a loyal member at Summit Church attending regularly and serving on the Board of Deacons, the Session, as Clerk of Session, and occasionally playing the piano.

At the end of 1980 Alan and Jane went their separate ways. Alan moved to New York City to work for a peace organization. Jane said later that she thought her life was over. Geoffrey was out of the house, Martin was in his second year at Oberlin College, and David was off to Drew University. Instead she thrived. In time, she found a lifetime companion in Lyndon McNall, and took positions with the Philadelphia office of UNICEF, followed by a return to Wyck house as liaison to the Board, and finally worked at the Record Center of the University of Pennsylvania from 1989 – 2005.

In 2002 Jane returned to Elk City with her children and grandchildren to celebrate the 100 th anniversary of First Presbyterian Church, the church that had sponsored Jane during her years of mission service in Iran and Southeast Asia. She gave a talk about mission service and met with old friends and extended family.

In retirement, Jane took trips to the beach, traveled to visit her brother and sisters in the southwest, and enjoyed visits at her home from the far-flung family and friends. She spent holidays with her four grandchildren – Sarah, Abigail, Evan and Charlie – and designed clothes and sewed quilts for herself and others (on the same sewing machine she had dragged all over the world). She also played the piano, and read prodigiously. But her constant delight was playing in a rotating bridge game with her friends from Summit Church.

Although she prepared thoroughly for her passing, she was not thoroughly prepared to embrace it when the time came. Even as she slipped away, she was planning her recovery, her return home, and her eventual return to sharing her home with friends and family as always. She leaves behind a space that cannot be filled by anyone else. We will always miss her smile, her laugh, her desserts, singing hymns to begin a meal, and her abiding interest in us and our lives.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in her name to:

Summit Presbyterian Church,

6757 Greene Street,

Philadelphia PA 19119

http://www.summitpres.net