Jane Gentry Vance

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Jane Gentry Vance (born February 9, 1941 in Lexington , Kentucky , † October 2, 2014 in Versailles , Kentucky) was an American poet and professor.

Career

Jane Gentry, daughter of Dixie Walker (1914–1993) and Charles Blanding Gentry (1907–1988), was born in Lexington during the Second World War . Her family lived in neighboring Athens, Kentucky. Her ancestors, which included members of the gentry family and the Bush family, had lived in the Athens area since the time Boonesborough was settled. Her maternal grandfather, Clarence O'Neil Walker (1890–1968), was the pastor of Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Lexington from 1916 to 1966 . Her deep attachment to central Kentucky and her ancestors had a major impact on her life and work. Gentry started writing poetry in high school. She had several degrees in English literature . She received her Bachelor of Arts from Hollins College , her Master of Arts from Brandeis University and her Ph.D. at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . During her time at Hollins College, she was a Phi Beta Kappa member. After her Ph.D. she returned to Kentucky to teach and write. During her 40 years as a professor at the University of Kentucky , where she held a chair for the last 16 years, she taught poetry seminars in the English department and taught the history of ideas in the University's Honors Program . In 1986, she received a University of Kentucky Alumni Association's Great Teacher Award - an award she was particularly proud of as she was nominated for it by the Honors Program students. Her poems have appeared frequently in literary magazines and in numerous anthologies. As a poet she wrote about the family, the freedom of emotions and the irony of everyday life.

She received twice, in 1993 and 2003, each one Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council and fellowships from the Yaddo in Saratoga Springs ( New York ) and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Lynchburg .

Between 2007 and 2008 she was a State Poet Laureate of Kentucky. During this time, she traveled as a state advocate to highlight the importance of literature in the culture and history of Kentucky. In 2008 she organized and attended a reading of Kentucky poetry at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC . The following year, 2009, she read a poem on the bicentenary of President Abraham Lincoln's birthday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts .

In May 2013 she received a Hollins University's Distinguished Alumnae Award. After she retired, she was inducted into the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in October 2013 - the highest honor granted by the college.

She lived in Versailles, Kentucky for 40 years. During this time she was a member of St. John's Episcopal Church. She died in 2014 at Taylor Manor Nursing Home in Versailles of complications from cancer.

She was married to Phillip Thomas Vance. The couple had two daughters: Lucy and Susannah Clayton.

Works (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dixie Walker Gentry in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  2. ^ Charles B. Gentry in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  3. ↑ Clarence O'Neil Walker in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved September 28, 2015.
  4. ↑ Kentucky Arts Council - Al Smith Individual Artist Fellowship ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / artscouncil.ky.gov
  5. ^ Phillip Thomas Vance on the genealogy.com website
personal data
SURNAME Vance, Jane Gentry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gentry, Jane (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American poet and professor
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Lexington , Kentucky
DATE OF DEATH 2nd October 2014
Place of death Versailles , Kentucky