In Remembrance: Jane Karr Threinen’56

Jane was a trailblazer in television, thriving in the public eye as a talk-show host and weather reporter. She went on to further success working in public relations, advertising, and program management before concluding her career as a professor of advertising at San Jose State University. Her many years supporting Beloit College profoundly affected countless students, faculty, staff, and community members.

“She was an amazing woman, especially for her time,” says her daughter, Kathy Landon, assistant director of Beloit College’s Global Experience Office. “From the time I was little, she worked. Most of my friends’ moms worked in the house at that time. She was always professional and always busy — a very public person. My classmates and cousin told me that she was a role model to them. I’m grateful to be here [at Beloit] and carry on a little bit of her spirit. We miss her a lot.”

At Beloit, Jane majored in speech and dramatic arts, danced in the Terrapin Troupe, and was an active member of Delta Gamma, the sorority for which she later became an alumni advisor. She married Edwin Neubauer’54 following graduation in 1956. In 1980, she married Charles Wertz, who died in 1996. Her illustrious career took her from Sunday night weather updates and her Tete-a-Tete talk show at WREX-TV to the Swedish American Hospital and Beloit Cable Television, on to San Jose, then ultimately back to Beloit, where she enjoyed many Beloitish years in retirement.

After the passing of both of their spouses, Jane and Dave Threinen’56 were married in 1998 and shared the college’s greatest alumni honor, the Distinguished Service Citation, in 2006. The super-volunteers were members of both the Alumni Association and the Board of Trustees. They were a constant presence on campus, at football games, and in the Alumni House; Dave was the secretary of the Chapin Society and had his own office there. He died in 2013.

Jane’s memorial service on Nov. 21, 2023, in Eaton Chapel, was attended by many old Beloit friends. In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her son Kenneth, their father, Edwin Neubauer’54, and many step-children and grandchildren.

She will be dearly missed by Beloit College, and all of those whose lives she touched.