Anne Devereaux Jordan obituary

Anne Devereaux Jordan, a former Western Michigan University faculty member, died Saturday, Feb. 2. She was 69.

Jordan, of Mansfield Center, Conn., was an English instructor who taught children's literature and freshman composition at WMU from 1971 to 1973.

As a co-founder of the Children's Literature Association in 1973, she was instrumental in establishing the field of children's literature within academia. Jordan served until 1976 as the association's executive secretary/treasurer as well as director of its annual Conference in Children's Literature.

In 1992, she received the first "Anne Devereaux Jordan Award," which was established in her honor and now is given annually by the association for outstanding contributions to the field of children's literature.

Jordon was an editor of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction for 10 years from 1979 to 1989. She wrote 11 books under her name and worked as the ghost writer for an adult nonfiction book on black history as well as nine adolescent nonfiction books.

Additionally, she reviewed books for the New York Times Book Review and published poetry in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and Star Line, the magazine of the Science Fiction Poetry Association.

Jordan spent much of her career teaching, and held positions at Eastern Connecticut State University, Wesleyan University, Central Connecticut State University, the University of Connecticut and the University of Hartford as well as WMU.

From 1994 to 1998, she was a senior editor of TALL—Teaching and Learning Literature for Children and Young Adults—for which she wrote two bimonthly columns. She also served as a literary consultant with a number of legal firms.

Jordan earned a bachelor's and master's degree from the University of Michigan.

Memorials

Services were held at 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 10, in Saint Philip the Apostle Parish in Ashford, Conn. There was no visitation.

Remembrances

Visit the Potter Funeral Home to make a memorial guestbook entry.