An Overview of the Career of Jean (Karns) Ladd
Jean was born to Elmer and Verna (Dawson) Karns at their home in Kingsdown, Ford County, Kansas. Her full name was Melva Jean Karns, and during most of her youth she went by both names together. Later she was commonly known simply as Jean. Her older sister was Winifred Colleen, who was known as Colleen. She and Colleen started school at the same time since Jean would have been the only child in the next year's class. They went through school together, attending the public schools of Ford, Kansas. They graduated in 1944 and the next fall enrolled in Bethany-Peniel College in Bethany, Oklahoma. This school was sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene, which also was the church that Elmer and Verna attended in Ford.
Jean's college major was business education, and she made preparation to teach business in high school. After graduation in 1948, her first teaching assignment was in Garden City, Kansas. She taught there until the spring of 1950, and married Forrest Ladd Jr. that August. In the fall they both joined the faculty of Miltonvale Wesleyan College in Miltonvale, Kansas. There she taught business, while her husband taught psychology and religion. When they left Miltonvale for Lawrence, Kansas in 1952, where Forrest enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Kansas, Jean joined the faculty of Perry, Kansas High School, teaching business subjects. She taught there until the spring of 1955, when they left Kansas for Forrest to join the faculty of Bethany Nazarene College (their alma mater, with a new name). Jean's intention was to continue her teaching career in Oklahoma, where she holds a Life Certificate to teach in the public schools. Learning that she was pregnant, Jean opted for a job she could do at home, which was being the accountant for the Bethany Book Store. She held that position until 1971, when she became the manager of the store. By that time, her daughter's enrollment in school made it possible for her work outside the home.
All told, then, Jean had three careers. Her first was as a high school teacher of business, in Garden City, Miltonvale, and Perry. Her second was as an accountant for the Bethany Book Store in Bethany, Oklahoma. The third career, which she pursued from 1971 to her retirement in 1994, was as manager of the Bethany Book Store. She retired from the Bethany Book Store in 1994, and her husband retired the following year from Southern Nazarene University (BNC with a new name and status).
After her retirement, Jean began to spend more time on an avocation her mother had begun, which was exploring the history of Verna's Dawson family. This pursuit expanded into research on her father's Karns families, then to her husband's families, and on to the extended relatives of the four grandparent family lines of their ancestors. This avocation, pursued over many years, has become a passion for Jean (yes, a fourth "career") and has led to the joint production with her husband of over fifty publications, both in print and digital formats. Some of this work can be seen on their main Web site. Click here
Some glimpses of this long and productive life are identified below. After viewing one of them, use your Back tab to return here, and make another selection.
