Janette L. "Jan" Faulkner

On June 19, 2008 Janette "Jan" L. Faulkner, Bay Area psychiatric social worker, collector, educator, activist, mystery aficionado and incredible friend closed her eyes and took her last breath after losing her year long battle with thyroid cancer. Jan was born on May 1, 1934 in Kansas City, Missouri the sixth child of George and Laverne Faulkner. Jan attended elementary and high school in Kansas City and graduated from Lincoln University of Missouri in Jefferson City, Missouri. Jan then attended the University of Missouri- Columbia School of Social Work receiving her MSW in 1966. For several years, Jan was a child welfare worker assigned to the St. Louis projects. In 1971, Jan moved to California for post graduate work in psychiatry at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco. Jan later became the clinical director of the Pacific Psychotherapy Institute, an out-patient mental health clinic for Blacks. As a dedicated educator, Jan was an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California in San Francisco's Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute and she taught family therapy at the Wright Institute in Berkeley. Jan also served as the director of social work training and continuing education for Alameda County Mental Health Services Jan had a passion for collecting black memorabilia in an effort to reveal and destroy the harmful effects of the stereotypical images. In 1982 and again in 2000, Jan exhibited her collection, Ethnic Notions: Black Images in the White Mind at the Berkeley Art Center and the Macon Georgia Art Museum. She published a book about the collection that served as a companion to the exhibit. In 1995, Jan founded The Friends of Chester Himes Black Mystery Writers Conference in Oakland. For more than ten years, she led a group of fans and writers in putting on an annual conference at the Oakland Museum. Jan also established an Oakland high school writing competition and co-lead a writing class for seniors in Oakland. Jan leaves behind her sisters, Marketta Hayes, Helen Harper and Shirley Bass, several nieces and nephews and many loving friends that are truly grateful to have been a part of her life. A celebration of Jan's life will be held on Sunday, August 3, 2008 at the Berkeley Arts Center, 1275 Walnut Street, Berkeley, CA, from 6-9 p.m. Donations can be made to sfopenhouse 870 Market Street, Suite 458, San Francisco, CA 94102, The Heritage Retirement Home 3400 Laguna Street, San Francisco, CA 94123, and/or The United Negro College Fund.