Jane Blaffer Owen

Jane Blaffer Owen (April 18, 1915 – June 21, 2010) was a patron of the arts, author, and heir to the Humble Oil fortune (a predecessor of Exxon-Mobil).[1] She and her husband, Kenneth Dale Owen, helped resettle the community of New Harmony, Indiana north of Evansville, Indiana. She commissioned the Roofless Church. She received the Sachem Award in 2007. She wrote New Harmony, Indiana: Like a River, Not a Lake: A Memoir.

Blaffer was born in Houston. She studied at The Kinkaid School and then Ethel Walker School in Connecticut.[2] She went on to Bryn Mawr College, Washington School of Diplomacy, and the Union Theological Seminary. Her husband is a descendant of Utopian industrialist Robert Owen.[3]

She trained as a dancer.[4] She supported the work of many architects and artists. She also funded the University of Houston's Blaffer Art Museum.[2]

She received the Louise Dupont Crowninshield Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2008 for her work on New Harmony and received an honorary doctorate from Purdue University in 2008.[2]

References

  1. ^ "Recalling Houston's Early Days and Its Oilmen: A Conversation with Jane Blaffer Owen and Elizabeth Gregory, Joe Pratt, and Melissa Keane" (PDF). Houston History. Vol. 8, no. 2. houstonhistorymagazine.org. pp. 20–24.
  2. ^ a b c "Generosity of oil heiress Jane Owen, 95, remembered". Houston Chronicle. 2010-06-26. Archived from the original on 2020-01-19. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  3. ^ "2008 Honorary Degree". Purdue University. Archived from the original on 2020-01-19. Retrieved 2020-01-15.
  4. ^ Fox, Stephen. "A Life of Harmony – Jane Blaffer Owen" (PDF). Rice University.