Jane Means was born in Chicago on July 19, 1943, five years after her parents had escaped to the United States as refugees from Germany during the Holocaust.
When interviewed, Jane reminisced that her father had had a successful career as a sign painter and that her mother had painted in oil later in her life and that perhaps that is why she was always drawn to art. Jane has always sketched, but shared her mother’s belief, back then, that becoming an artist wasn’t practical.
When Jane was 11, her family moved to Southern California, where she attended high school and later UCLA. She received her bachelor’s degree and high school teaching credential in English and Biology. After she graduated, she went on a student tour of Israel and Europe where she met, Ed Popkin, the father of her three children. After a short courtship, they married and moved to Rhode Island where Jane taught science while Ed completed pharmacy school. After his graduation, they moved to Southern California, where her three sons were born. Eldest son, Michael works for a German utility in London and has a wife and two children. Middle son, Larry is an attorney in Seaside (Campbell and Popkin) and has a wife and two children and youngest son, Mark is a real estate broker at Area Properties in Astoria and has a significant other.
Jane lost her father in 1975 and her mother eventually remarried. When the children were in school, Jane worked as an adult school administrator in Torrance, Ca, where she later taught English. She received her Master's Degree in 1984. Although her first marriage ended in 1981, she remains good friends with her ex-husband. In 1984 she remarried, but divorced a second time in 1990 to escape from an abusive situation.
When her mother passed away suddenly, in 1990, Jane began to reassess her life. She had always enjoyed trips to Oregon to visit her brother, Lee, so in 1992 she relocated to Portland and taught Language Arts and G.E.D. Preparation for the Beaverton School District. In 1995, while attending Lewis and Clark College, she met Tom Means. As Jane readily admits, the third time is a charm! After marrying in 1997, Jane and Tom moved to the coast where Tom became a counselor for Astoria School District and she began the At-Risk Teaching program in Warrenton. She also taught English, Creative Writing, and Public Speaking. .
In 2001 Jane retired from teaching. She then took classes in Conflict Resolution and Mediation and was hired by the courts in Clatsop County to mediate domestic relations disputes. She has been involved in over 200 such cases to date. She and Tom have a small business called Means Consulting Services. She also continued writing children's stories, but pursuing her interest in art became her passion.
In 2002, she found TEAA and, her mentor, Shirley Dahlsten. Today, Jane's art leans toward impressionism with emphasis on color, movement and emotion. She prefers pastels, collage, acrylics and stone sculpture. She has had several one woman shows in Seaside. Her paintings have been accepted at many local galleries and at shows such as the Au Naturel show at Clatsop Community College. She has won several awards, most recently at the JENAE (Lewis and Clark) exhibit. She has sold pieces to collectors in OR, TX, Ill, CA, and WA.
She describes herself as a busy, happy person who enjoys laughing, family, and friends.