Narrative Summary
Interview with Jane Bechle by Jessica Loudis
Reverend Jane Bechle, originally from New York State, traveled a long way—from New
York to New Jersey, Ohio, California, and Arkansas—before ending up in Missouri. Rev. Jane,
the oldest of four, was raised by a Catholic mother and a Methodist father. Her religious tradition
began in the Methodist church, and through her trying journey and experiences, she eventually
found Unitarian Universalism.
A well-educated woman, Rev. Jane started out in college as a physical education major
and was a self-described jock. On a whim, she chose to attend a Methodist college in Ohio,
where she came to realize that though she was doing well in her major, she was even better in her
religious studies classes. It was not until her mentor suggested she meet with a seminary recruiter
that she even considered that women could be ministers, much less that she herself may be
interested in that path. She ended up enrolling in a radical new program that placed an emphasis
on experience and community service. During this time, she worked many hospital positions and
also worked with mentally disabled children. She eventually graduated from seminary school,
but looking back, she believes that she was probably the only seminary student that didn’t know
if she wanted to be a minister following graduation.
When asked what kinds of strife she met in the beginning of her religious journey in the
1970s, Rev. Jane said that it was never the people, but the male ministers that took issue with her
position in the church. She chalked it up to them being threatened by her success. When
beginning to discuss a story about this time in her life, Jane rolls her eyes and shrugs saying, “ I
was just so young and naïve then [. . . .] I said ‘Yes, sir’ and did what I was told.” She goes on to
tell of a controlling, conservative head minister who watched her every move, had other
ministers spying on her, and dictated how she should dress. She says that she once overheard him
Missouri State University
Fall 2010
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women
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tell other members of the clergy, “All MY women wear skirts.” Looking back, Jane says that she
knows how wrong all of those things were, and if she were not young and naïve at the time, she
would have known to put a stop to it.
Other than that particular experience, Jane reassured me that her experiences with people
have been fairly positive. She says that she tries very hard not to be a “warrior” about finding
acceptance for female clergy, but instead she tries to educate people.
Although she is a member and minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church, she also
describes herself as a spiritual agnostic. She emphasizes the values of thinking for one’s self and
taking the positive aspects from every religion and leaving behind what is destructive. Rev. Jane
is also an advocate of ethical eating and other environmental concerns. She hopes one day to be
able to work with children and animals to some degree, and loves the idea of working with
therapy animals.
When asked what her message for the younger generation would be, she said:
Even in the smallest ways, we can make the world a better place. And to do that we might
have to give up some of our fears and some of our prejudices, but there’s a beauty there
that you find is unbelievable. And when you go beneath the surface, we are so connected
to each other that it’s beyond description, and we need to tap into that rather than our
differences and when we do that we’ll make the world a better place.
Missouri State University
Fall 2010
Religious Lives of Ozarks Women