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Jane Winks Kilkenny ’33

A picture of Jane Winks Kilkenny

Jane Winks Kilkenny ’33, December 18, 2009, in Portland. Jane led a full and adventurous life in the finest Reed tradition. After earning a BA from Reed in history, she married yacht-builder Thomas F. Kilkenny. The couple lived in Japan and the South Pacific before moving to a farm in Clackamas County, where they bred cattle and raised game birds. After Thomas' death in 1956, Jane took on the role that would endear her to generations of Portland handymen and women: she assumed management of her father's iconic hardware store, W.C. Winks Hardware. Established in 1909, Winks Hardware built its legendary reputation on an inventory of more than 50,000 doohickeys, thingamajigs, and whatchamacallits. Jane's personable and respectful treatment of customers and employees cemented the store's place as a Portland institution: it thrives to this day under the leadership of her daughter, Anne. Wishing that more local students could have access to a Reed education, Jane established the Victor and Edna Chittick Scholarship.

Appeared in Reed magazine: June 2010

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