By the selection committee of Ruth Hamilton, Judie Hoffman and Meg Tait. This article was printed
in The Voter in April 1997.
We are pleased to announce that Jan Beran is the Sth recipient of the Carrie Chapman Catt Award given by the Ames League of Women Voters. Jan served as president of the Ames League from 1991-93 and is presently serving as state president. On the local level she has served as chair of the League finance committee and the international relations committee. In addition to this, she has written a booklet on the history of the League in Iowa, which is now in 1,200 school and public libraries across the state.
Jan has been very active in church work locally and on state and national levels. She worked as a missionary in the Philippines from 1959-73 where she taught at Silliman University and she has served many years as a youth leader and church school teacher at Northminster Presbyterian Church. She presently is an elder and was recently elected as moderator of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, which includes 967 churches in eight states.
In addition to being the parents of three children and grandparents of five, Jan and her husband George have been foster parents since 1980 and had eight long-term placements of teenagers in their home plus 22 short-term placements.
Her service on community boards is most impressive. Jan has been president of Heartland Senior services, The Iowa- Partners of the Americas and the Ames chapter of the United Nations. She has served on the boards of the Ames-ISU Bike Committee, the Iowa-Yucatan Partners and the Iowa Peace Institute Peacemakers.
Jan has received many awards in recognition of her work including a Faculty Citation from ISU, a distinguished alumni award from Pella College and the Iowa Carrie Chapman Catt award. In 1986 she was named to the Ames Citizen's Hall of Fame.
She is retired as a professor of Physical Education at Iowa State University where she taught for 18 years. During that time she wrote numerous papers and books, served on professional committees and presented many invited talks around the world.
