Rev. Jane E. Powell

08/20/2001

The Rev. Jane E. Powell, 60, of 90 Bolton Drive, pastor of the Church on the Hill, died Monday at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. Born in New York City on July 19, 1941, daughter of Helen G. Eisenberg and the late Arthur A. Eisenberg, she attended Brearly School in New York City and graduated from White Plains High School in 1958. A 1962 graduate of Wellesley College, she majored in biblical studies and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. An accomplished poet and writer, she worked as an editor for Battelle Memorial Institute in Seattle for several years and then became an account executive at J. Rockey Public Relations, also in Seattle, before founding her own firm, Arst Public Relations Inc., in Bellevue, Wash., which she headed for more than 10 years. She entered the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif., in 1994 and graduated in 1997, when she was ordained as a minister in the United Church of Christ. She was appointed pastor of The Church on the Hill in September 1997. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Pittsfield Council of Churches and served as chairperson of its publicity committee. She was also a member of the Lenox Clergy Association and a clergy member of the Berkshire Association, United Church of Christ. Besides her mother of Seattle, she leaves her husband, Larson M. Powell, whom she married Nov. 28, 1998; four sons, David J. Wharton of Woodinville, Wash., Thomas A. Wharton of Exeter, N.H., Larson M. Powell Jr. of College Station, Texas, and Miles S. Powell of Arlington, Va.; a daughter, Anne M. Powell of Boxford; a sister, Ann E. Cooper of Middlebury, Vt., and a grandson. A memorial service will be conducted Tuesday, Aug. 28, at 4 at the Church on the Hill in Lenox. The Rev. Susannah Crolius will officiate and will be assisted by several area clergy. Burial will take place in Pittsfield Cemetery at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, donations in Rev. Powell's memory may be made to either the Church on the Hill, the Swedish Hospital Pastoral Care Department or the Pacific School of Religion. All may be sent in care of the ROCHE FUNERAL HOME, 120 Main St., Lenox, MA 01240.

Obituaries

Celebrating Lives & Legacies

Rev. Jane E. Powell

Memorials