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Jane Frances Babson, wife of Mr. David F. Babson, Jr., and a long-time citizen of Stamford, Connecticut passed away during the early morning hours of Thursday, January 10, 2013.

Born in Leitchfield to then late William Winstead McCall and the late Matilda Hahn McCall on August 17, 1925, Jane F. McCall attended Leitchfield High School and was valedictorian for the Class of 1943 of Sullins Academy, in Bristol, Virginia.

She obtained a Bachelors of Arts degree with honors in Art and Archaeology at Mt Holyoke College, in South Hadley, Massachusetts in 1947, and was awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree in Art and Art History by the University of Illinois, in Urbana, Illinois in 1949. Ms. McCall was the first woman to receive a MFA from the University of Illinois. Her thesis, Some Early Fort Types in the Northwest Territory, 1679-1832, became a basic reference for study of fortification architecture and of colonial- to early-national period history in the middle Mississippi River basin. From 1952 50 1954, Jane F. McCall was Registrar for the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C.

Jasne Frances McCall married David Frederick Babson, Jr., in Leitchfield on August 7, 1954, and moved with her husband to Stamford, Connecticut later that year. She pursued a career as an artist writer and publisher, and was a founding member of the Stamford Art Association in 1970. Her woodcut print, Phase III: In the Beginning…?, 1969, is part of the permanent collection of the National Air and Space Museum in the Smithsonian Institution, In Washington D. C.

She was the author of The Epsteins: A Family Album, 1984, an exploration of the life of British sculptor Jacob Epstein and his relationship with his American family, and The Search for the Indian, 2001,an inquiry into the Virginia Colony. Her children’s books include The Nest on the Porch, 1988 Babson’s Bestiary, 1990, and A Story of Us, 2003, book and DVD.

In 1987, Jane F. Babson established the Winstead Press as a small-press publisher of children’s and art book, and she managed this business until 2010. She was active in small-press publishing and library associations in Connecticut and New York City.

Jane Frances Babson is survived by her immediate family, including her husband, David F. Babson, Jr., Esq., of Stamford, an attorney, her son, Dr. David Winstead Babson, of Syracuse, New York, an archaeologist, and her daughter, Ms. Leila Jane Babson, of New York, New Yorki, an actress and singer. She is further survived by her sister, Ms. Marilyn McCall, of Arlington, Virginia, her sister, Ms. Nancy McCall, of Arcata, California, her sister, Ms. Barbara McCall, of Wimberly, Texas, and her brother, Dr. William Perry McCall, of Leitchfield.

She was preceded in death by her parents, a sister, Ms. Zella McCall Johnson, and a brother, Mr. David Loran McCall.

Jane Frances Babson will be buried in Leitchfield during the spring of 2013. In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a charity of your choice.