Jane Rayner
By Jane Smith
HIGHLAND BEACH — Jane Householder Gehrett Rayner, 99, a chemist, college professor and “supermom,” died July 13.
She died at home from complications of a stroke, surrounded by family and friends. Mrs. Rayner graduated from Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa., and went on to obtain a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Yale University. She was the first female chemist in the market research department of Allied Chemical Co. in New York City.
“I was so proud of my mom,” said daughter Judith Rayner. “She had Ph.D. from Yale and taught at colleges; most of the kids’ moms stayed home.”
She taught chemistry at Rutgers Women’s College and Fairleigh Dickinson University, both in New Jersey, and Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale.
Locally, she served as two-time chairwoman of the board at the Seagate of Highland condominiums in Highland Beach, as a member of the former Beaches and Shores Council of Palm Beach County, and as a board member and volunteer with the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton. She loved volunteering there, and sometimes would hold a snake and show it to youngsters who came to the center, her daughter said.
Mrs. Rayner was born in Huntingdon on March 23, 1914, to Samuel and Ada Gehrett. Her first husband, William Degnan, died in 1943 in Connecticut from tuberculosis. She had one son from that marriage. In 1948, she married George C. Rayner of Greenport, N.Y., who died in 1987 in Boca Raton. From that marriage, she had one daughter.
“My father died when I was young,” said her son, John. “We lived in Brooklyn. She was a working mom long before it was popular. She was busy during the week. But on weekends, she took me ice skating, bike riding, to the park (Prospect Park) and to the Bronx Zoo.”
He didn’t like eating breakfast, but he was able to persuade his mom to give him pie for breakfast — just so he would eat something. She baked apple pies for her second husband and brownies for herself because she “was a chocoholic,” said daughter Judith.
“She was a loving, kind person, but a role model, too,” her daughter said. “My mom was a pioneer for women and gave me the confidence to do math and science.”
Mrs. Rayner’s survivors are son John Degnan Rayner, of Adelphi, Md.; daughter Judith Norris Rayner, of Derwood, Md.; grandson Shane Wellnitz, of Derwood, Md.; and brother John O. Gehrett, of Hilton Head, S.C.
A memorial service was scheduled for late July at the First Presbyterian Church in Delray Beach, followed by a reception at Seagate of Highland clubhouse in Highland Beach.
Instead of flowers, contributions in honor of Jane G. Rayner may be made to the Samuel M. and Ada H. Gehrett Memorial Scholarship at Juniata College, 1700 Moore St., Huntingdon, PA 16652-2196, or the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, 1801 N. Ocean Blvd., Boca Raton, FL 33432.
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