JANICE M. HAHN

JANICE M. HAHN
April 2002

Janice M. Hahn of Melrose died 3/20/02 at North Florida Regional Medical Center. She was 68.

She was born in St. Augustine and graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Journalism. She was an avid Gator fan.

She wrote for the St. Augustine Record and worked in the Civil Rights Movement with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1960s in St. Augustine.

She served as Public Relations Director at St. John's River Community College and taught Journalism there.

She was on the steering committee of the first feminist newspaper, "Woman News" in Gainesville in 1975 and in 1979 co-founded the Gainesville Feminist Writers' workshops which has continued for 22 years.

She served on the District Health and Human Services Board from 1995-2000. Her positions included Board Vice Chair and Secretary. From 2001-2002, she represented Putnam County on the North Florida Community Alliance.

She was a member of the Ryan White Consortium, the North Central Florida Health Planning Council, Vice President of Children1s Task Force for Putnam County addressing the issue of teen pregnancies. She was also a volunteer of the Support Network of Victims of Sexual Assault for Putnam County. She was past President of Putnam County Health Education Council and past President of Bradford Union Putnam Guidance Board of Directors. She was Director of C.E.T.A. in Alachua County from 1974-1978. She also worked at the Gainesville Women1s Health Center where she was a fervent supporter of reproductive rights. Until 2001 she worked at Family Medical Center in Palatka as a medical grant writer.

She had recently been State Committeewoman for the Putnam Democratic Party where she also served on the Steering Committee.

Ms. Hahn, as a prolific writer, organized annual writers' conferences and was working on a biography of Cassadaga minister Rev. Eloise Page at the time of her death. Sallie Ann Harrison, Gainesville writer, stated, "Her passion for writing was equaled only by her commitment to social justice and community activism."

Ester S. Tibbs, Dept. of Children and Families, District 3 Administrator stated, "Not only was Jan Hahn a warm and caring person to know, she lived her life as an advocate for the people in need in her community. Every day Jan made a difference for people who never knew her. It was service to others that provided the greatest rewards in life to her."

In addition to being survived by a sister, Alice Tossi of Sanford, two brothers, Hubert Parker Hahn and Harris Hahn, and three nephews, she is also survived by her two business partners, Sallie Ann Harrison and Constance Jylanki, her neighbor and caregiver, Julie Nunez, and an extended family of other long time friends, writers and activists.

Donations in her memory can be made to the N.A.A.C.P., Planned Parenthood, Wild Iris Books and the Southern Cassadaga Spiritualist Association.