Jane Roberts Wood

Jane Roberts Wood was born on July 7, 1928 in Memphis Texas, daughter of Allien Richards Parsons (Bonham, Texas) and Joshua Morris Parsons (Tennessee).

Her mother, twin sister, Betty Parsons Dooley and brother, David George Parsons moved from Weatherly, Texas to Texarkana, Texas after the unexpected death of her father in 1935. Jane lived in Texarkana until she left for Lubbock to attend Texas Tech and, soon after her graduation from Tech, to marry Winston Harvey Roberts in 1950. The couple originally lived in Fort Worth, where their first child, Melinda Allien Roberts, was born, but soon settled in Arlington, where they had their second child, Susan Jane Roberts Read. Yet throughout her life she frequently returned to her childhood home in Texarkana to visit her beloved family there, including her mother, her aunt Grace Richards Tanner and her brother, his wife and their children, David and Holt, often reuniting there with the members of her family who had remained in West Texas, including her sister and her sister’s children, Melissa and Bob, and another aunt, Lois Richards Webb and her children, Ann, Jane and Buddy, through the years.

Jane was soon able to continue with two of her great loves, the study of British literature, starting at the University of Texas at Arlington and finishing her masters in English at Texas Christian University, and writing fiction. She taught in the Dallas County Community College system for many years, where she greatly enjoyed her roles as teacher and academic colleague. Following the death of Winston, she married Judson W. (Dub) Wood of Dallas and, while continuing to teach and write, made a new home in Dallas with Dub and his two children, David Judson Wood and Barbara Wood Scott – who became her own – until the couple moved to Argyle, Texas in 2004.
During her second marriage, Jane’s writing career fully blossomed. Her novels include The Train to Estelline, Dance a Little Longer, A Place Called Sweet Shrub and Out the Summerhill Road. She also wrote short stories and poetry. Honored to become a member of the Texas Institute of Letters soon after the publication of her first novel and delighted to be called a “Texas icon” in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, Jane throughout her life was a great advocate for and lover of the many libraries and literary institutions that flourish across the state of Texas.

She loved her many grandchildren, Annabel and Tommy Roberts-McMichael, Alex and Catherine Read, Charlie Wood and Victoria, Clint and Sarah Scott. She loved, too, her children-in-laws, her many great friends, her dogs, her long walks and sitting outside on the porch swing simply enjoying all the little details, the wildlife, the sky, the vista, the soft breezes, that life steadfastly offered up to her.

A service will be held for Jane Roberts Wood at St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Flower Mound on Tuesday Jan. 25, followed by a graveside service at Moore Memorial Garden in Arlington. In lieu of flowers, the family requests contributions to be made to St. Nicholas Episcopal Church in Flower Mound, St. Alban’s Episcopal Church (Main Street) in Arlington, the Fort Worth Public Library and the DeGolyer Library at SMU in Dallas, holder of Jane’s papers and letters.