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0130-ART-03/2004
Jane Alexander
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The expectation for young women like me was that you would get married. You would of course marry a successful man. You would have lovely children. You would entertain beautifully. And you would do good works. And so, that's exactly what I did." She did more. Born in Jackson, Mississippi, Jane Biggs, moved with her parents to Washington, D.C. during World War II, where her father, Thomas Jones Biggs, set up his architectural practice. She remembers how Washington entertained yet stayed on its toes in civil defense with brunches and blackouts. Patriotism filled the air. She and other youngsters ran outside when they heard military aircraft, and held up two fingers in the V-sign and yelled, "V for victory!" The family soon returned to Jackson where they lived in the Bellhaven neighborhood near the famous writer, Eudora Welty, who came to her family's Christmas parties. She loved to hear Jane's mother, Louise, play "Bye-Bye Birdie" on the piano. Jane attended H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College at Tulane University in the 1950s, but left after her sophomore year to marry John Alexander, who became a physician. They had two sons. In 1990, Jane graduated from Yale Divinity School and was ordained an Episcopal priest. In 1994 she became the first woman priest at St. Mark's in Jackson.