HENNIKER, NH Janice Helen (Jilka) McElroy passed away peacefully at her family home in Henniker, N.H., on January 25, 2014 of endometrial cancer. Whether as an educator, administrator or community leader, Jan sought to educate herself and others about critical issues and engage people in positive actions. Committed to social justice, she focused on creating opportunities for women, improving access to education for people in third-world nations, and educating people about the consequences of climate change.
Among Jan’s most enduring contributions were the establishment the Leadership Development Institute in State Government in Pennsylvania; the publication of a history of Pennsylvania’s prominent women; and a major Rotary Foundation grant to help Vermont families recover from Tropical Storm Irene.
Jan was born in Topeka, Kans.,in 1937 to Rudolph R. and Josephine (Kern) Jilka, who grew up on farms, attended college and led professional careers. They inspired Jan’s love of nature and encouraged her high academic achievement and interest in politics and community service. A top student in high school, she earned a full scholarship at Colorado College and graduated in chemistry Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude in 1960. A Fulbright Scholarship then gave Jan the opportunity to study biochemistry and physiology at University of Cologne in Germany and to visit 14 countries in Europe. InCologne she had the honor of hosting and introducing German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer at the dedication of a dormitory for international students where she lived.
After returning to the U.S., Jan studied biology and earned a master of arts in teaching degree at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. She taught science at local schools and joined the civil rights movement, taking part in sit-ins and registering black voters around the city. In 1964, she moved to La Jolla, Calif., to lead the science department at The Bishop’s School. Through courses at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Jan learned of the oceans’ warming and the atmosphere’s rising levels of carbon dioxide, now known as climate change, which became a focal point in her last years of life.
An interest in how politics and communication influence people’s behavior led Jan to pursue a Ph.D. in human behavior at the U.S. International University, where she studied with humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers. During this time she met James Douglas McElroy, a Ph.D. candidate in physics at the University of California in San Diego. They married in 1967, and both completed their doctoral work in 1970, the year their daughter Helen was born, followed by the birth of son Bryan in 1972.
Jan’s passion for bringing recognition and opportunity to women emerged in Pennsylvania, where the family had moved in 1975 for her husband’s research job with AT&T’s Bell Laboratories. She joined the Allentown branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW), became its legislative chair and president, and chaired an exhibition on the “Notable Women of the Lehigh Valley” for Women’s History Month. For Pennsylvania’s tri-centennial, Jan joined the state AAUW’s board of directors to produce a book focused on women’s contributions to history. She coordinated teams of researchers, writers and fact-checkers to publish the stories of 165 women in Our Hidden Heritage: Pennsylvania Women in History, in 1983.
Jan taught at Cedar Crest College in Allenstown, Pa., and in 1982, became director of its Program of Return to Advanced Learning, one of the earliest programs whose mission was to enroll adult women in college. She was president of the state AAUW for two terms and was elected to the organization’s National Board of Directors, serving as chair of Women’s Issues and a Task Force on Diversity, and as vice president of its Legal Advocacy Foundation board.
In 1988, while Jan was serving as director of Planning and Development at Montgomery County Community College, Governor Robert P. Casey appointed her executive director of the Pennsylvania Commission for Women. She led efforts to promote women’s economic development and to end gender discrimination, working with state legislators to develop public policies for advancing the status of women. Her proudest achievement was the creation of the Leadership Development Institute for Women in State Government, the first such program in the nation. Twenty years later, the institute’s training programs for women (and now men) for leadership roles in public service is an integral part of Pennsylvania state government. She also served on the board of directors of the National Association of Commissions for Women and UNIFEM.
In 1995, Jan served as a presenter for the NGO Conference for Women and a delegate to the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference for Women in Beijing, China. Afterwards, she published Womensword, a newsletter that tracked the conference’s international initiatives. Urged by people from both political parties to run for the U.S.Congress from the PA 15th in 1997, she decided to run and received endorsements from Emily’s List and the Women’s Campaign Fund. She lost a close primary race to a political veteran and incumbent state senator and recalled her experience of running for public office as a special high point in her life.
“Jan has been a role model in her dedication to women’s rights and equity issues from the local to the global, putting both funds and actions behind her philosophy,” says Maggie Ford, a New London resident who has known Jan for decades through their shared commitment to improving women’s status.
In 1999, Jan returned to academe as assistant to the president of Albright College in Reading, Pa., and six months later she moved to New Hampshire to assist the president in her transition to the leadership of New England College in Henniker. She served as the president’s assistant and director of strategic planning for six years, during which she took on interim roles as acting president, vice president for development, human resources director, and manager of facilities. In 2004, Jan took a new position as grants manager at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, where she secured private foundation support and government funding to strengthen the college’s academic programs until her retirement in 2009.
Jan joined Henniker’s Rotary Club in 2000 and served as its international chair on and off for 12 years. She wrote successful grants for projects that created China’s first foster care program; donated books and school supplies for street children in Afghanistan; distributed bio-sand water filters to 275 families in Nicaragua; and, in cooperation with WomensTrust, provided computers and training for women and girls, and a generator for a public health clinic in Pokuase Village in Ghana, Africa.
Jan became a WomensTrust volunteer and traveled to Ghana in 2010 with the organization’s founder, Dana Dakin of Wilmot, to explore other ways to assist the people. After her trip, Jan co-founded the Ghana Literacy Project, which collected and distributed more than 75,000 books for schools and community libraries in Ghana.
In July, 2011, Jan became Rotary’s district governor in southern New Hampshire and Vermont, and a month later, Tropical Storm Irene hit part of her district.Knowing the people of Vermont would urgently need financial resources for their recovery, she initiated a Rotary Foundation matching grant to raise funds from Rotarians around the world.
This successful effort provided Vermont families with more than $400,000 to help meet the multiple needs that arouse from the storm’s devastation.Jan received the 2013 Community Service Award from the New England Community Action Association for her lead role in assisting Vermont families in their time of need.
“Jan engaged Rotarians from around the globe to support funding for this grant,” recalls Marilyn K. Bedell, the northern Vermont Rotary District Governor who partnered with her. Bedell says donations arrived from Rotary districts and clubs in the U.S., Canada, England, South Africa and Taiwan. “When I think of Jan, I think about the ‘power of one.’ She had the vision to make the world a better place for storm victims in Vermont. She made us all believe we could make a difference. Jan epitomized the face of Rotary and exemplified its motto of ‘Service above Self.’”
Storm Irene reignited Jan’s concern about climate change, and in August 2012, she joined a leadership training program led by Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project. She was passionate about the immediate need to confront climate change, an issue that merged her long-held scientific interests with her understanding of how communication and politics can spur people to action. Through social media and direct contacts, Jan began educating people about the grave dangers of climate change, stressing the need for large-scale reductions in human-generated carbon dioxide emissions. Following her diagnosis with terminal cancer, Jan said one of her greatest regrets was that she would not have time to engage more people in collective actions to curtail climate change.
After her health condition became known, McElroy received messages from hundreds of friends and colleagues who described her as a caring friend, a strong leader and a role model who met challenges with reason, hard work and perseverance. May this kind and gentle force of nature rest in peace knowing she changed the people who knew her, and the world, for the better.
Janice H. McElroy is survived by her beloved husband, Jim McElroy, daughter Helen E. McElroy of Chicago, IL, son Bryan D. McElroy of Denville, NJ, sister E. Joan Luft of Indianapolis, IN, niece Caroline Luft of New York City, NY, nephew Ulrich C. Luft, MD of Portland, OR, and many cousins.
Her memorial service will be held at the Congregational Church of Henniker, 33 Maple Street (Rte. 114) in Henniker on February 1, 2014 at 1:00 PM.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the: PDG Janice H. McElroy Scholarship Fund, c/o The Rotary Club of Henniker, P. O. Box 695, Henniker, NH 03242.