Jane Ware Kirkland Hawley of Birmingham, AL, died peacefully at home on the evening of November 2nd, 2009. She was the wife of the late Dr. William Lawrence Hawley of Birmingham and is survived by four children and thirteen grandchildren.
Her older sister, the late Mrs. John Faulk (Anne Blythe Kirkland Faulk), was a long-time resident of Selma and Mrs. Hawley often visited Mrs. Faulk at her Selma home, known as “Veldt Haven.”
Born in El Paso, TX, on January 4th, 1918, she was the daughter of the late Judge Charles Hascal Kirkland and Alice Elizabeth Self Kirkland. Following the loss of her mother at the age of six, her upbringing was shared by her father and her grandparents, Nathaniel Henderson Self and Alice Posey Self. As a child she resided in Birmingham, Sheffield and Selma, Alabama, as well as in El Paso.
She attended El Paso High School and graduated from Selma High School in 1935. She entered Huntingdon College in Montgomery with the Class of 1939, majoring in art. At Huntingdon, she was secretary-treasurer of the student government and a member of Theta Gamma Nu sorority, as well as Tri Sigma senior honorary society and Kappa Pi Nu honorary art fraternity. She was elected to the position of state president of the Young Women’s Christian Association.
Due to illness, she ultimately graduated from Huntingdon with the Class of 1944. She did graduate work at the University of Colorado and later served as head of the Art Department at Huntingdon until her marriage to Dr. Hawley in 1946. The couple lived in Boston, MA, Ann Arbor, MI, and Los Alamos, NM. While in Los Alamos, Jane developed an abiding love for northern New Mexico and the Navajo and Spanish cultures. Her paintings at that time usually featured landscapes of that area. Her artistic efforts included a one-woman show in Santa Fe that was well received. After a brief period in Denver, the couple settled in Birmingham in 1954.
A long-standing member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Brook, she served as president of the women of the church and director of Vacation Bible School and various guild activities. She was active in the women’s auxiliary of the Jefferson County Medical Society and in the Birmingham Art Association and the Birmingham Museum of Art, where she served as a docent. She took great pleasure in her long-time association with the Village Painters in Mountain Brook.
She is survived by her children, William Kirkland Hawley, MD (Beth), Lawrence Scott Hawley, MD (Carleta), Elizabeth Latham Hawley Hodges, MD (Greg) and Gregory Hascal Hawley (Sally), and by her grandchildren, respectively: Alice Jennings Hawley, Mary Catherine Hawley, Charles Kirkland Hawley and Benjamin Gaines Hawley; Elizabeth Scott Hawley, Catherine Roberts Hawley and Christopher Lawrence Hawley; William Gerow Hodges, Eleanor Kirkland Hodges, Jane Latham Elizabeth Hodges and Mary Elizabeth Scott Hodges; William Bythewood Hawley and Nathaniel Stevens Hawley.
The family is especially grateful for the extraordinary care given to Mrs. Hawley in her final years by Bernice West and Claudia Jackson.
Visitation will be held in Graham Hall at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (3736 Montrose Road, Mountain Brook, AL 35213) at noon on Friday, November 6th, with graveside service to follow at 2:00 p.m. at Elmwood Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any memorials be made in the form of gifts to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, the Birmingham Museum of Art, Huntingdon College or Indian Springs School.