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Jean Ruth Arndt Fowler ’58

January 1, 2022, in McKinleyville, California, from Alzheimer’s disease.

Jean was an only child raised in Bellingham, Washington. Her father died when she was young, and her mother, who had only completed the fourth grade, believed strongly in a liberal education. She suggested that her daughter go to Reed. “It was the greatest gift my mother ever gave me,” Jean said. “It developed my self-image as a smart person. No one can take that away.”

She also enjoyed the ratio of three men on campus for every woman. She wrote her thesis, “The Accuracy of Judgements Concerning Participation in Group Discussion,” advised by Prof. Leslie Squier [psychology 1953–88]. She went on to earn a master’s of social work from Boston’s Simmons School of Social Work, which she found easy after attending Reed. She worked as a psychotherapist in Monterey and had an office in Eureka for 28 years. Joan was one of the original teaching members of the International Transactional Analysis Association, and her career as a psychotherapist spanned 59 years, 51 of those years in Humboldt County. She was a longtime member and former president of the American Association of University Women.

“My career is based on my relatability to all people—exposure to the humanities started me on that,” Jean said. “Reed gave me a wonderful education that I carry with me daily. My education never stops.”

In Monterey, she met her husband Jerry, who had studied law at Harvard and also became a psychotherapist. They had two sons, Brett and Scott. Jerry and Scott survive her.

Appeared in Reed magazine: June 2022

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