EIGHTH GENERATION

1561. Jane Wilkinson Dupuy was born on 6 Nov 1918 in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina. She died on 26 Dec 2001 in Black Mountain, Buncombe County, North Carolina. ⁽⁸⁶⁸⁾

Jane Wilkinson Dupuy was born in Greensboro, North Carolina on November 6th, 1918, daughter of Thornton Dudley and Alice Wilkinson Dupuy. She was educated at Curry High School and went on to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, earning Phi Beta Kappa in her junior year. She played violin in the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra. Jane was awarded the Weil Fellowship and attended medical school at the UNC Chapel Hill in the first year it was open to women. She left medical school to marry David Leander Stitt, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, who was serving as pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Saint Louis, Missouri. They were married on September 10th, 1940. In 1945, David and Jane moved to Austin, Texas, where David became President of Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Together, they served God through the Seminary for 26 years.
When the youngest of their six children entered public school, Jane returned to academic studies and earned a Ph.D. in Childhood Development from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to raising six children, Jane was actively involved in life at the Seminary and in the Austin community. She was an outspoken advocate of civil rights and served as president of the Austin area Planned Parenthood. . After their retirement from the Seminary in 1971, Jane and David moved to Houston, where Jane spent six years in research for Baylor College of Medicine.

Jane was one of the first women to be ordained as an elder in the Presbyterian Church, US; the first woman to be nominated as moderator of the PCUS General Assembly; and the first woman to serve on a Texas grand jury.

Jane died at home on December 26th, 2001. She is survived by her husband, her sister Nancy Wilson, her six children, David, John, Stephen, Daniel, Sarah, and Susan, 15 grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.

She was married to David Leander Stitt (son of John W. Stitt and Elizabeth Gertrude Tillman) on 10 Sep 1940. David Leander Stitt was born on 5 Oct 1912 in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. He died on 4 Oct 2003 in Black Mountain, Buncombe County, North Carolina.⁽⁸⁶⁸⁾

From the Handbook of Texas Online, an excerpt from an article on Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary:


"The fourth president, who came to the post in 1945, was David Leander Stitt. In addition to the original 5½ acres, the campus had been enlarged by property east of Speedway Street. During Stitt's tenure more property was added, Sampson Hall was razed, and the property east of Speedway was sold. New apartments for single and married students were built and administration and classroom accommodations provided by the construction of the Trull and McMillan buildings. Also a handsome library was provided and later named for David L. Stitt and his wife Jane."



Jane Wilkinson Dupuy and David Leander Stitt had the following children:

+2100 i. David Tillman Stitt.
+2101 ii. John Dupuy Stitt.
+2102 iii. Stephen Dudley Stitt.
+2103 iv. Daniel Gordon Stitt.
+2104 v. Sarah Jane Stitt.
+2105 vi. Susan Elizabeth Stitt.