Jane Wynne Willson

Jane Wynne Willson (born 1933)^[1] is a British teacher, writer, campaigner and humanist. She is a Vice-President of the British Humanist Association.^[2]

She worked as a teacher, first becoming actively involved in the secular humanist movement when her oldest child was attending school. She established local humanist groups in Bristol and Cheltenham, and has since been an officer of Birmingham Humanists for over 30 years. She was a member of the BHA Executive Committee from 1966 to 1972, and again from 1988 to 1994, chairing the committee from 1989 to 1992. She was a Chair of the International Humanist and Ethical Union from 1993 to 1996, and its Vice-President until 2002. She has also served as a Director of the Rationalist Press Association.^[2]

She is best known for her groundbreaking books on non-religious ceremonies, such as funerals, weddings, and baby namings. In particular, these include:^[2]

• Sharing the Future (first published as To Love and to Cherish, 1988, several later editions)
• Funerals Without God (first published 1989, several later editions, ISBN 0-901825-14-X)
• New Arrivals (first published 1991; later revision with Robert Ashby, 1999)
• Parenting without God: Experiences of a Humanist Mother (1998)^[3]
• The Chain of Love - A Victorian Family History (2007)^[4]

References