Jan Sundquist

Lopez Island

Jan Sundquist has packed a lot into her 71 years of life, starting out as a farm girl, then becoming a 1960s career woman, followed by being a wife and mother, then a recovered alcoholic, a successful counselor, and now a full-time island volunteer.

Jan Madsen was born in 1937 in Kansas. The family farm was founded by her grandparents, who claimed land in the Midwest. Jan’s mother was the 10th of 13 kids, so she decided one was enough after giving birth to Jan. Her father developed the farm, and as it grew, the family moved to nearby Salina, pop. 20,000. The farm had short-horned herefords, China Poland hogs, corn, wheat, pastureland, and milk cows, although Jan says she “never did learn to milk worth a damn.”

At Salina High, Jan was involved in the drama club, pep club, crew club, wrote for the school newspaper, helped produce the yearbook, and “I studied A LOT because my parents were very attentive to my grades. But I got into a fair amount of trouble – I always got caught.”

Jan attended Kansas State University (KSU), where she earned two undergraduate degrees in four years (what would now be considered a double major) in journalism and home economics. “I went to school with the idea of becoming a vet. But back then – in the dark ages – only three to four schools in the country accepted women. And they all had quotas for how many women could attend.” Jan studied science and applied for vet school several times, but didn’t make it in because of the quota. “Hell was going to freeze over before I’d get to go, so I decided to switch to home economics since I’d been taking so many science, food, and nutrition classes already.”

After graduating, Jan moved to St. Louis to work as a field home economist for Pet Milk Company, promoting products on local news stations, cooking shows, and food departments at universities. “No one has probably heard of the Pet Milk Company on the West Coast, but in the Midwest they are huge.” Jan traveled all over the country promoting Pet Milk products like nonfat dry milk (“Not the most fun product to try to sell”) and frozen pies. “I had a great time. I traveled the western U.S. And it was in the days when women didn’t travel. We were often the only women on commuter flights. And we dressed to the nines, believe me – hose, hats, gloves.”

While living in St. Louis, Jan learned that Bob Sundquist, an acquaintance from KSU, was also in the city, working for Wagner Electric. They began dating, and wed on New Year’s Eve, 1960, at 9:30 a.m. After a three-day weekend to celebrate, they were both transferred to Los Angeles. In 1961, Jan began working for the Southern California Gas Company, marketing their products to the entertainment and home construction industries.

In 1963, Jan took her last job in food promotion and marketing at the California Wine Institute, an advocacy and public policy association for California wineries and their products. Jan developed recipes and cookbooks to promote the region’s wine and she gave food editors from major cities like Chicago and New York tours of the area’s wineries. “In those days, it was truly organic. It was a guy and a gal who lived on the ranch – it was a mom and pop operation.”

From 1965 until 1976, Jan left her career to raise their two daughters, Brie and Beth. But true to her character, Jan continued to work, only now it was from her home in Santa Clara, Calif. With two friends from the food promotion industry, she started Creative Communiques, an ad and promotion agency for food companies. After doing that for a few years, Jan started her own catering business. “I would have Beth in my backpack while chopping onions. It was nuts!”

In 1976, Bob was transferred to Seattle. It was during this time that Jan’s addiction to alcohol could no longer be ignored. Bob, who Jan says “got his black belt in Al-Anon,” said it was either the family or alcohol: she had to choose. It took two programs of chemical dependency treatment, but Jan achieved sobriety and she hasn’t had a drink in 31 years. “I got sober and then I got serious about life. Thank god I was married to someone like Bob Sundquist. He stuck with me through so much. My kids are great about it too. None of them are users. And I never drank during my pregnancies.”

After her treatment, Jan decided to get her master’s degree in rehabilitation psychology from Seattle University. She worked for Eastside Drug and Alcohol Center as a counselor and later ran her own practice for many years.

“For women back then, their bars were at home. So they often got more sick than men because they could hide it. When I first got sober, there was just one AA meeting for women in all of King County. Now there’s probably ten a day. It’s been an amazing journey to watch.”

In her private practice, Jan specialized in grief issues, injuries, chronic and progressive illnesses, addictions, and domestic violence. She also taught graduate school at night.

The Sundquists bought property on Lopez in 1988, but when Jan got breast cancer in 1989, it “slowed down our plan to move to Lopez and build a house.” Jan beat cancer, and in 1992, Bob was offered early retirement from AT&T. He began work on developing their Lopez property, and Jan stayed in Redmond to continue her counseling practice. Once they officially moved, Jan commuted to Seattle and slowly closed down her practice. “You can’t sell a psychiatric practice – it’s completely impossible ethically.”

After living in the San Juans for a while, Jan was hired as a grant administrator for San Juan County Health and Community Services. After a few years she left that position, but the working world called to her again. “My friend Elizabeth asked me to make coffee at her new coffee shop, Isabel’s. I said, ‘I don’t know if I’m smart enough to make coffee!’” But Jan excelled at her barista duties, and she worked there until her 65th birthday.

Now Jan and Bob have a different kind of full-time job: Lopez volunteer. Jan has been on nearly every local non-profit committee, including Lopez Center, Lopez Hospice, and LOHO, just to name a few. Jan’s can-do attitude and irreverent humor make her a sought after board member. “But I’m looking forward to retiring again. I have two boards that I will be done with in January. And then I will be board-free.” But she is quick to add that she will still help on specific community projects.

Jan and Bob are both close to their daughters. Brie is married, has two children, and lives in Renton. Beth is a mechanical engineer at Boeing. Jan’s greatest joy in life are her friends (“many of them are very old friends”), great food, laughter, her dog Katie, and her children. “I feel blessed that they chose me,” Jan says of her kids.

If you would like to suggest someone for Spotlight on Seniors please e-mail carmstrong@islandsweekly.net.