Funeral services for Jane Magruder Watkins, 82, of Williamsburg, Virginia will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, October 12 at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. Burial will follow at Indianola Cemetery.
She died August 12, 2019 in Williamsburg.
Jane was born in Greenwood on May 3, 1937 to Marjorie Murphy Magruder and Douglas Neil Magruder Sr. She went to school in Indianola and Yazoo City. She attended Mississippi State College for Women and graduated from the University of Hawaii. She received a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Mississippi and a master’s in Organizational Development from American University. She also studied at the University of Cambridge in England, where she completed research that led to her textbook, APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY, CHANGE AT THE SPEED OF IMAGINATION.
Jane spent much of her life and work on social justice issues – civil rights in Mississippi and South Africa and economic development programs for women in South Africa, Kenya and many other parts of Africa, India, the Philippines and Haiti. She worked with non-profits, USAID projects, the Episcopal, Anglican, and Seventh Day Adventists overseas development programs, and taught Organizational Development at Pepperdine University. When she began to use the Appreciative Inquiry methodology, her work spread to include the Dalai Lama’s government in exile, as well as corporate, non-profit and religious institutions at home and abroad. Jane took great pride in the work of her many students as they took what she taught them into the world to continue her work in their own way.
Jane was awarded lifetime achievement awards by the National Training Labs and the Appreciative Inquiry community for her work in teaching, mentoring and expanding the reach of the Appreciative Inquiry method.
Jane was preceded in death by her parents and her first husband, J. Wesley Watkins III.
Jane is survived by: her husband, Ralph Kelly; her children, Laurin Wittig and Gordon Watkins; her grandchildren, Samantha Wittig, Alexander Wittig, Wesley Watkins and Benjamin Watkins; three great-granddaughters; and one great-grandson. She is also survived by: her siblings, Alice Gordon, Anna Waid, Kem Rutledge and Neil Magruder Jr.; three nieces; and four nephews.
Memorials may be given to the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry, Champlain University, P.O. Box 670, Burlington, VT 05402-0670.
The family wishes to extend their sincere thanks to the staff and residents at Spring Arbor Senior Living and At Home Care Hospice, both of Williamsburg, Virginia, for all their loving care of Jane and her family.
