Jerres 'Jane' Morrison, 92

Jerres Jane Powell Mills Morrison, known as Jane, passed away Aug. 4, 2024, at the age of 92. She was born May 14, 1932, to Wilbur "Pete" Powell and Edith (Leighton) Powell in Jacksonville, Ill., the eldest of four girls. When she was 12, her adventurous parents drove the whole family on the new Pan-American Highway all the way to Uruguay, South America. That started Jane's lifelong love for people of all nations and races.  

She also loved reading and the study of words. In her late teens, she worked as a linotype operator for a newspaper. At age 20, she married Andrew Mills (Andy) in 1952, whom she had met at a Quaker work camp in Mexico. They went on to have three sons, Hendrik, Skyler and Jeremy, and a daughter, Damaris. She also got a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1954 from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

From 1956-61 and from 1967-71, she and Andy were missionaries under the United Church of Christ in south India. Jane often functioned as the village nurse, armed with her father-in-law's medical textbook and her own common sense. Between the Indian years, the family lived in Davis, Calif., where Andy obtained his doctorate in soil science, and Jane worked as a secretary for the Davis Enterprise news and at the University of California at Davis.  

On returning to the USA, they settled in Scotch Plains, N.J. Jane was a homemaker and a church secretary. She and Andy hosted three families of southeast Asian refugees and students from Japan and Africa. She traveled to Russia several times with peacemaking groups. She also lived in Egypt for 11 months for Andy's work. In her lifetime, she learned to speak Spanish and Tamil, as well as Hindi, Arabic, Italian, Russian, Greek and Hebrew.

After her children had grown up, she earned a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1984 and was ordained by the United Church of Christ in 1989. She pastored two United Church of Christ churches in Manson and Moorland, Iowa, from 1989-95 and the Yoked Parish in Harlem, Mont., from 1996 to 2004. She also did temporary pastoring in several places, including Whitlash, Mont., and Braintree, England, and some prison ministry.

In 2013, as she was descending from a pulpit, she fell and shattered her shoulder. After that, she moved in with her son, Hendrik, and daughter-in-law Lorene Lindley, in North Idaho, where she remained until her passing. 

She and Andy divorced in 1992. In 2009, she entered into a civil union with Richard Morrison of Lamedeer, Mont., and his passing ended in 2015.  

Jane was preceded in death by her parents, her three sisters (Kimberly Wilton, Devereux Swing and Shawna Dullknife), and a granddaughter Abril Mills. She is survived by her four children, Hendrik (Lorene) of Rathdrum, Idaho, Skyler (Rey Ann) of Middleton, R.I., Jeremy (Margaret) of Bordentown, N.J., and Damaris (Jeff) of Lorain, Ohio, and also her first husband, Andrew Mills (Helen) of Pennsylvania, 11 grandchildren: Fr. Peter (aka Arden), Oksana, Andrea, Winifred, Christina, Alexander, Rosalina, Hannah, Taylor, Anthony and Jerres; and 11 great-grandchildren.

After her funeral at St. Joan of Arc church, she was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Post Falls, Idaho, on Aug. 13, 2024.