Jane DeWitt (Sessions) Kiernan

Jane Sessions Kiernan

Pultneyville: Jane Sessions Kiernan, retired professor of nursing and an international health care volunteer, died at her home in Pultneyville, NY on February 5, unexpectedly and tragically of hypothermia. She was 78. 

Jane grew up and was educated in Newark, NY; received her bachelor’s degree (with a specialty in pediatric nursing) from the University of Michigan in 1965; received a MS and then a Ph.D. in 1997 from New York University, and was trained in crisis health intervention at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. 

In 1967 she married James Patrick Kiernan; this year they were to celebrate their 55 wedding anniversary.

As a Peace Corp Volunteer (1967-1969) she practiced as a rural hospital nurse in Brazil. Later she served as a volunteer with Handicap International, Smile Train and Refugees International in Croatia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. She accompanied medical supplies with a UN convoy during the Croat–Bosnian War. 

She spent most of her professional career as a nurse educator; first at Long Island Hospital School of Nursing in Brooklyn (where she became the deputy director) and then at Cayuga Community College in Auburn, NY.

She is survived by her husband; her daughter, Hannah Kiernan; her son, Jude Kiernan; her grandchildren, Elias Krim, Talia Krim and Billie Kiernan; her sister, Susan Sessions Zuccotti; and her brother, Glenn Finch Sessions.

Her memorial service will be held on June 4th at the Zion Episcopal Church in Palmyra, NY, at 1:00pm, followed by the interment of her ashes in the Lake View Cemetery in Pultneyville. In place of flowers, it is requested that donations be sent to Cracker Box Palace animal sanctuary in Sodus, NY, in her name.

Online condolences can be expressed at www.youngfuneralhomeny.com

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