Jane Ellen Mayes Jamar passed away Tuesday, December 16 at the age of 99.  She was born in San Antonio June 27, 1926 to Dorothy and Wendell Mayes.  She was the granddaughter of Will H Mayes, County Judge of Brown County, founder of the Brownwood Bulletin, Lieutenant Governor of Texas and founder and Dean of the School of Journalism at the University of Texas in Austin.

She moved to Brownwood in 1932 and started school at the age of 6 at Coggin Ward School, the same school her father attended when he was a young boy in Brownwood.  She graduated from Brownwood High School, attended the University of Oklahoma and was a member of Delta Delta Delta Sorority. At OU she met her husband, Bill Jamar and they were married 55 years until his death in 2003.

Jane Ellen and Bill had 4 children who all graduated from Brownwood High School.  She was active as a Brownie and Girl Scout Leader.  She was a founding member of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in 1955 and served as President of the Women of the Church and was on the Vestry for several years.

Jane Ellen’s father, Wendell Mayes, founded KBWD Radio Station in Brownwood in 1941 and served as Mayor of Brownwood for 10 years. Jane Ellen and her husband started KOXE FM in 1975.  The Jamar’s owned 22 radio stations as well as Big-Tex Outdoor Advertising, seven cable television systems in Texas and Oklahoma, the Mineral Wells Index daily newspaper and the Brownwood Coca Cola Bottling Co.  She has been an active civic leader serving as President of the Brownwood Rotary Ann’s (now known as the Friends of Rotary), the Brownwood Garden Culture Club, the Brownwood Woman’s Club and the Women of the Church of Good Shepherd.  In 2008 Jane Ellen was honored as a Woman of Distinction by the Girls Scouts of Central Texas and in 2016 she received the Groner Pitts Lifetime of Service Award from the Brownwood Chamber of Commerce. She has been a proud supporter and sponsor of the Best in Show Award given in honor of her mother, Dorothy Mayes who was an artist, at the annual Stars of Texas Juried Art Show and Exhibit since its inception.  Most recently a room at the new Brownwood Event Center has been named for her grandfather, Will H. Mayes in honor of her family’s contributions to Brownwood.

Most of all she cherished her loving family. She is survived by 4 children, Bonnie Dillard (Don), Lydia Foree (Dink), Shelley Carstens and Paul Jamar (Cindy) as well as 14 grandchildren: Mitchell and William Dillard, Amy Terry; Burns and Adam Bowen, Abby Bridges, Nicole and Blake Foree;  Jonathan Newton, Julie McNett, Bonnie Aughenbaugh;  Jennifer Snyder, Brian and Bobbie Jane Jamar;  28 great grandchildren and 6 great great grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband, William (Bill) Wallace Jamar, Jr; her parents, Wendell Wise Mayes and Dorothy Evans Mayes; her brother, Wendell Wise Mayes, Jr.; her sister-in-law, Mary Jane King Mayes and her son-in-law, Stan Carstens.

A family graveside service will be scheduled at a later date.  Heartland Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.