Jane Speed

HOLIDAY ISLAND - Jane Speed, formerly of Earle, Arkansas, passed away on December 26, 2023, just four days short of her ninetieth birthday while receiving hospice care at Hampton Place Healthcare in Rogers, Arkansas. She was born December 30, 1933, in Columbus, Mississippi to Gertrude (Turner) and Howell Hunter Phillips. Through the assistance of the first ever scholarship awarded by the Columbus Pilot Club and a scholarship from the Columbus Exchange Club, Jane attended the Mississippi State College for Women (MSCW). Majoring initially in music, she studied organ and cello, and sang in the college Glee Club. While there she became an active member of the Methodist Youth Fellowship and participated two summers in the Methodist Youth Caravan working in churches in Alabama, Florida, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. In 1953, while attending the yearly camp meetings at Tabernacle Methodist Camp in Pickens County, Alabama, she met a fellow musician, Bryan Speed whom she married in February of 1955. (They had been married 60 years at the time of his passing in March of 2015.) Jane graduated from MSCW with an undergraduate degree in education and subsequently earned a master’s in education from the University of Mississippi. She was a proud alumna of “the W” and loved to reminisce as she drove through campus on visits to Columbus. In 1957, Bryan and Jane moved to Earle, Arkansas where they had long careers in public education. She taught in the Earle, Wynne, and Parkin public school systems for more than 35 years. While in Earle she was an active member of the Earle Methodist Church, the Earle Music Coterie, the Earle Chamber of Commerce, and the Crittenden County Museum Board, and was a 60-year member of Delta Kappa Gamma. Her service to the Earle Methodist Church covered 64 years and included singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School, working with the church youth, serving on various committees, organizing countless events, and playing the piano for worship services into her mid-80s. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Bryan, sister Mary Miller and brother Bill Phillips. Survivors include her three sons, Drew Speed (Jill) and Mark Speed (Brenda), both of Little Rock and John Gregory Speed of Eureka Springs; grandchildren Bryan, Allison, Macon, Olivia and Rolando, great grandchildren Max and Pierce and many nieces and nephews. “A Celebration of Life” will be held on Saturday, January 27th, at 1:30 p.m., at the First United Methodist Church of Earle. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Earle First UMC (PO Box 661, Earle, AR 72331) or to the Holiday Island Community Church (HICC, PO Box 3055, Holiday Island, AR 72631) where she was a member at the time of her death.

Jane Speed

December 30, 1933 - December 26, 2023