by the Editors
Jan Ericson has served as the ever efficient and ever kind business manager of Perspectives since the fall of 2000. Unless you regularly peruse our credits page, you may be unfamiliar with her name. Simply put, Jan worked to ensure that this journal’s mission continued on a sound footing and toward a bright future. As she now steps down after six-plus years in her post, it’s fitting that we recognize her many contributions to that mission.
For the co-editors, Perspectives work results in a tangible, finished product. We scurry to assemble our given month’s issue and exhale when it is finally put to bed. Jan’s work was broader and deeper. As business manager, she did the ongoing, necessary tasks that enable a volunteer organization to continue: taking care of accounts payable and receivable, managing subscriptions and advertising, supervising circulation. She was our CFO.
Coming to the board with many years of business experience, Jan brought a sense of stewardship that helped to keep our ship afloat and guide us into calmer waters. While part of the editorial board’s job is to ask the big questions about Perspectives‘ future, it’s easy to get carried away when envisioning “what if… .” Jan’s thankless task, then, would be to remind us of the real costs involved. She assumed what could have been a frustrating or thankless role with tact and nary a disparaging comment about what were sometimes less than realistic ideas.
During her tenure with Perspectives, Jan experienced some life-changing events. She retired from gainful employment, as did her husband, Ed, and she became a grandma. The former gives her the time to enjoy the latter more fully. If memory serves, grandson Ethan’s birth may have been the only time that Jan missed a board meeting.
At our communal dinners, Jan laughed easily in the company of the pastors and professors who make up the board–a company not loath to take their own opinions seriously. In case we didn’t communicate it clearly enough in your presence, Jan, we value your quiet strength and sound common sense. Your humility and careful attention to tasks at hand exemplify a depth of Christian virtue that we all should emulate. We hope we have been adequately thankful to receive those gifts.
An avid reader, Jan belongs to two book clubs. Spring might be her favorite season as it marks the start of golf season–there are three leagues to play in, plus a weekly round with husband Ed. But any season promises new trips with Ed to see their sons, daughter-in-law, and grandson.
On those trips and everything else, Jan, Godspeed. May you forever read stimulating books, may your swing always be true, and may all roads rise to meet you.
