Jane McFadden

Jane McFadden, aged 104, died peacefully the afternoon of June, 10 2026 under hospice care at Kobacker House where she was grateful for the opportunity to say good-bye to her loved ones after a brief hospitalization for a heart attack that occurred on May 27, 2026. She was born Colletta Jane Miller on April 25, 1922 in Mount Vernon, Ohio to James and Myrtle (Durbin) Miller, and was reared on a farm in Knox County near Howard, Ohio. She was preceded in death by her husband of 62 years, Robert James “Bob” McFadden Sr. and her sister Eileen Miller Fenton. Jane and Bob lived and raised their family on Dunedin Road in Clintonville and were long-time members of Immaculate Conception Parish.

            Jane is survived by of her five children Robert James McFadden, Jr. (Mary Lou) of Michigan City, Indiana; Thomas, of Manteca, California; Patrick, of Bainbridge, Ohio in Pike County; Mary Jane (Flint Gabelman) and Peggy, both of Columbus. The grandest joy of her life were her 7 grandchildren, Mary Jane McFadden Pridgeon (Kiel) of Mount Holly, N.C; Jennifer McFadden of Fort Myers, Florida; George McFadden (Allison) of Delaware, Ohio, Megan Wickstrom (Daric) of Bozeman, Montana, Luke Gabelman of Savannah, Georgia, James McFadden (Lindsay) of Chesterton, Indiana, and Katie Gabelman (Kyle McDowell) of Columbus, Ohio, her 12 great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

            Jane and 14 classmates graduated from Howard High School (now East Knox High School) in 1940. After high school, she was part of the WWII effort, working in an airplane engine factory in Mount Vernon, Ohio for 25 cents per hour. Because she was only 5’ tall and weighed less than 100 lbs., she could stand on top of the shipping crates without breaking them and maneuver the weather-resistant tarps used to cover them into place before they were loaded and chained down on flatbed rail cars. She saved her wages to attend the Ohio State School of Cosmetology in Columbus, Ohio. She obtained her cosmetologist’s license in 1945.

            Although she left the beauty business after marrying Bob and having children, she renewed her license and returned to work when her youngest child started school in 1960. She owned and operated Fantasy Hair Fashions, a beauty salon on High Street in Columbus’s Beechwold neighborhood, for 27 years. She and Bob retired to Indiantown, Florida to a golfing community where she learned to play golf and proudly broke 100 when she was 80 years old. She returned to Columbus in 2009, after Bob’s death, and lived independently in German Village until her recent heart attack. She was a gifted craftswoman who sewed, crocheted, and knitted beautiful handbags, sweaters, and hats. At the age of 104 she could still hand knit a hat in 4 hours and was selling them through the Red Stable in German Village. She voluntarily quit driving at the age of 100 when she no longer deemed it safe to do so. She will be remembered as a determined, formidable, extremely hard-working woman and greatly missed. Jane’s family is deeply grateful to the hospice nursing staff who provided such wonderful around-the-clock care to ease her passing.

            Jane’s family will receive visitors at the Egan-Ryan Funeral Home, 403 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, from 4-7 P.M. on Friday June 19, 2026. A Requiem Mass will be held at St. Mary’s Church, 684 South Third Street, Columbus, Ohio 43206 at 10 A.M, Saturday June 20, 2026 to be followed by burial at St. Luke’s Cemetery in Danville, Ohio.

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