On June 26, 2017, Jane Hand went to the Lord at age 90. She was born Jane Millerlie on March 23, 1927, in Evansville, Indiana the only child of Edna Hunsinger and Cyril Frank Millerlie. Later she adopted Martha as her first name. She grew up in Evansville, Indiana, located on the Ohio River where the borders of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky meet. She attended Stanley Hall (grades 1-8), was editor of the Stanley Hall Flash, graduated from Benjamin Bosse High School in 1944 although she and her friends purloined the sign for Gate 12 to the Bosse High Stadium (we have the sign), received her degree in Education from DePauw University in 1948 and received her Masters of Science in Education from Indiana University 1949. She married Henry Charles Hand in 1955 at the Washington Avenue Presbyterian Church in Evansville Indiana.
She taught elementary students at Carpenter School and apparently attended pro wrestling and roller derby matches. She remembers when the Ohio River was frozen over she and other teenagers would drive cars and make them spin on the ice and she did it the best. Later as a stay at home mother in Oklahoma City she had an amazing ability to fall asleep during PTA meetings and not fall over. However, she was known by the kids in the neighborhood as neat, proper and someone you obeyed. She enjoyed music, art, had a very dry sense of humor and liked to tease people. Her favorite hobby was to correct your grammar and if there was more than one correct usage then her preference was the better choice.
In 2003 she suffered a severe concussion in a head-on collision that was the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. Until the day she left us her true self was at work as she told other residents at the dementia center what colors to use in art class.
Jane Hand is survived by her son, Jeffrey Scott Hand in Oklahoma City OK, her daughter Jane Pefanis and husband Harry Pefanis in Houston TX, grandchildren Elisabeth Pefanis in Manhattan NY and Nick Pefanis in Norman OK, cousins Jane Gordon Hunsinger and Connie Hunsinger in Evansville IN.
Visitation will be Thursday, July 20, 2017 and Friday, July 21, 2017 from 5-8 pm at Buchanan Funeral Service. Services to celebrate her life will be 2:00 pm, Saturday, July 22, 2017 in the chapel of Buchanan Funeral Service.
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