Jan Lee Kreader

Jan Lee Kreader passed away in Los Angeles, CA, on February 26, 2023, after a long illness. Lee was born Edward Dale Cronk to Margaret Cronk on December 5, 1945, in Omaha, NE. In an act of love and self-sacrifice, Margaret relinquished her son for adoption to the Nebraska Children's Home when he was several weeks old. Lee was joyfully adopted by his parents Helen and Colman "Mannie" Kreader in February 1946. Lee was raised through eighth grade in Dalton, NE, near the family's wheat farm. They spent the winters of 1952 and 1953 in Tucson, AZ where Lee attended the Brandes School to recover from rheumatic fever he contracted in first grade. Lee's family moved to Lincoln, NE, in 1959, when his father became the president of the Nebraska Wheat Growers Association. Lee loved music and played the accordion as a child, studied piano in high school, and attended Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, CO every summer. Lee graduated from Lincoln Southeast High School in 1963 and went on to receive his B.A. in U.S. History in 1967, from the College of Wooster in Wooster, OH.

Lee married his Rocky Ridge and high school sweetheart Barbara Barlow in 1967. Lee and Barb had two children, Benjamin Colman in 1969, and Eleanor Alice in 1973. After receiving a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, Lee completed his M.A. in U.S History at the University of Pennsylvania in 1968 and returned to the College of Wooster to teach history.

When Lee was drafted for the Vietnam War, he successfully petitioned to be classified as a Conscientious Objector on moral grounds. To fulfill his alternative service to his country, Lee and his family moved to Chicago in 1971, where he established and directed Sheridan Center, a bilingual social service and mental health center that provided a comprehensive neighborhood response to the needs of low-income children and families in the neighborhood surrounding Wrigley Field. Lee flourished at Sheridan Center and found his life's calling assisting vulnerable communities and at-risk children, transforming his childhood aspiration to become a Presbyterian minister into a career in social service.

In 1975, Lee went on to direct Broadway Children's Center before becoming Director of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago's day care and after-school programs in 1980. After a brief tenure as the Executive Director of The Day Care Action Council of Illinois, Lee completed his Ph.D. in U.S. Social History from the University of Chicago in 1988, authoring his dissertation on the life of Isaac Max Rubinow, a leading theorist on the idea of social insurance during the New Deal. In 1990, Lee became Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' state-wide resource and referral project, helping families find quality affordable child care.

After Lee and Barb divorced in 1998, he embarked on a new chapter, moving to New York City to work as a Senior Policy Analyst and later Co-Director of Child Care & Early Education Research Connections at the National Center for Children in Poverty, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. While there, he launched Research Connections which synthesized research on child care subsidy use and infant and toddler child care into a standard resource for professionals throughout the country. Soon after moving to New York, Lee met his life partner Kay Hendon, who shared his commitment to child care and early childhood education and his sense of adventure exploring the city's endless cultural offerings. Lee embraced Kay's family as his own and cherished his role in their lives, sharing his love and guidance with her children and grandchildren.

Lee inherited the "fiesta gene" from his parents and knew how to have fun. He loved cheering on his favorite teams - the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees. Lee also loved show tunes (preferably from Judy or Liza) and was known for his ability to spontaneously warble the perfect lyric to sum up any situation. He had an affinity for Siamese cats, collected cardinals, rubber duckies and wind-up toys, and found it hard to resist a good old-fashioned pun.

Lee was a loving father, grandfather, and partner. He was also a devoted friend who loved his friends as family. Having been an "only child" for seven decades, he was overjoyed to learn that he had six siblings - three brothers and a sister through his birth mother Margaret Cronk Wortman and a brother and sister through his birth father Joseph Grigalauski. Not long after the discovery in 2017, Lee was able to meet all but one of his siblings, as well as their extended families. He relished his new role as the older brother to his brothers and sisters and delighted in being an uncle and great-uncle to their many children and grandchildren.

Lee is survived by his former wife Barbara Skalinder of Highland Park, IL; his son Ben (Gary Trethaway) Kreader of Los Angeles, CA; his daughter Eleanor (Paul) Zwart and granddaughter Antonia "Nia" Zwart of Rohnert Park, CA; his brother Mike (Kathy) Wortman of Lincoln, NE; his sister Sue (Tom) Millsap of Lincoln, NE; his brother Mark (Deb) Wortman of Elkhorn, NE; his brother Paul (Sue) Wortman of Elkhorn, NE; his sister Kathy (Dan) Waldron of Loves Park, IL; his cousin George Bryan of Omaha, NE; and many treasured nieces and nephews.

Lee is also survived by his life partner Kay Hendon of New Haven, CT, and her family, including: daughter Sarah Hendon and grandson Sammy Hendon-Dahl of East Haven, CT; Sammy's father Lawrence Dahl of Madison, WI; son Luke (Lara Loyd) Hendon and grandsons Liam and Emory Hendon of Cheshire, CT; granddaughter Annie Beckett of Boston, MA and grandson Taran Besant of St. Paul, MN, children of Kay's late daughter Jean (Christophe) Hendon Besant.

Lee was preceded in death by his adoptive and birth parents; his uncle and aunt Donald "Swede" and Mildred Kreader; his granddaughter Helen Zwart; his brother Charles Grigalauski; and his niece Megan Boyer.

The family plans to hold a memorial celebration in Lincoln, NE, and interment in Dalton, NE, later this year. Memorial donations may be made to the Nebraska Children's Home Society in Omaha, NE https://nchs.org/donate/.