In Memoriam: Jane E. Myers (1948–2014)

“Jane, it leaves me heartache when we drift apart on earth. But your inspiration on wellness sheds light on my research trajectory and your passion and love for life never ceases to diminish. You are always missed and remembered, my dear friend.”

—Patrick S. Y. Lau, Chinese University of Hong Kong

On December 23, 2014, Jane died after a brief but hard-fought battle with cancer. Having fought with dignity, grace, and courage, she left a rich legacy of high social interest for the well-being of humankind.

She credited her mother, an advocate and special educator, as her role model and inspiration. Her mother, along with Jane’s experiences during the Civil Rights Movement, influenced her values and led to her early work as a rehabilitation counselor and counselor educator.

Lesser known about Jane is that she held two black belts in martial arts, was a national judo champion and instructor, an instrument-rated pilot who flew her own airplane, an avid gardener, and an animal and environmental rights advocate. In short, she practiced what she preached: a balanced, personal wellness orientation to life.

Servant Leader

When asked about her many leadership positions, Jane would explain she was an introvert. She took the leadership opportunities that arose, however, because they served and benefited others. In essence, she lived by a philosophy of being a “servant leader.” Jane explained:

Servant leaders are first interested in the needs of others. They place themselves in positions of leadership so that others might benefit. Leadership per se is not the goal. That fits for me. I do not see myself as a leader, though I have served in many leadership positions. I see myself as an advocate, and leader ship positions are the avenue through which advocacy is implemented.

(Nichols & Carney, 2013, p. 244)

Prolific Scholar

Jane is cited as one of the most prolific authors in the counseling profession, with more than 150 refereed journal articles, 44 published book chapters, 26 books and special journal issues, and 34 nationally distributed media publications; her promotion, through scholarship and research, of counseling as a unique profession is unmatched. In the 45 years of her counseling career, including 35 years as a counselor educator, her research interests extended from gerontological counseling to focusing on wellness across the lifespan, including the exciting new areas of neuroscience and practice.

An Adlerian Researcher and Wellness Advocate

Working with Mel Witmer and her husband, Tom Sweeney, Jane developed theoretical and evidence-based wellness models with assessment measures now translated into several languages. A favorite story related to this work is about Jane’s early influence on the first Wheel of Wellness Model, which drew from Adler’s theoretical ideas, including the creative self, life tasks, and holism (Sweeney & Witmer, 1991). Jane was impressed with the Wheel of Wellness but still puzzled: How had we not considered gender and culture as essential components of wellness? We responded that indeed there were items that addressed matters in both areas, but Jane noted that they were only items—not essential factors. We told Jane that if she could find research to validate gender and culture like the other factors in the model had been, we would include them. So she did just that! Thus, Cultural Identity and Gender Identity became factors in both the models and instruments (Myers & Sweeney, 2004). We also came to understand that Jane was a master of instrument development, designing and maintaining a cross-cultural database of thousands of subjects. Her personal website also was designed to assist researchers worldwide (wellness-research.org).

Her Personal Legac

More than a scholarly interest, wellness permeated Jane’s personal philosophy and shaped her daily activities. Our final tribute is to note that her life was the embodiment of her favorite quotation from Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”