Jayne Baker Spain was equal parts business woman and humanitarian. Mrs. Spain was a former president and chief executive officer of Alvey-Fergus manufacturing company (now a part of Northrop Grumman) and a senior vice president of public affairs for Gulf Oil.
But she was also dedicated to advancing opportunities for women and the blind. "Life should be a place of service," she once advocated in a commencement speech before the U.S. Civil Service Commission.
Mrs. Spain died March 1, 2003 at Sunrise Assisted Living in Kenwood. The former Indian Hill resident was 81. With distinctive blonde hair and a penchant for pastels, "she disarmed the business world in the 60s and 70s, said her son Jon Spain of Los Angeles. In the 1960s she attended trade fairs for the U. S. Department of State and Commerce, traveling to several former Communist countries, North Africa, India and Greece to advocate the importance of hiring blind workers. At her own company, she hired one blind employee for every 10.
Raised in Cincinnati, Mrs. Spain earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley in the late 1940s. She moved back to Cincinnati shortly after college and took a job at Alvey-Ferguson, the conveyor manufacturing company. She was named president and CEO in 1952. The company was acquired by Litton Industries in 1966, now a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.
She sat on the board for Litton Industries when the company was the 39th largest in the United States. She also held board positions at Beatrice Foods and Ohio National Life Insurance.
In 1971, Mrs. Spain was named vice chairman of the U.S. Civil Service Commission. There, she advocated equal opportunity for women, and thought equal opportunity meant equal responsibility. She joined Gulf Oil in Pittsburgh in the late 1970s. Although her career meant spending much of her time in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, Mrs. Spain never gave up her residency in Indian Hill.
She was awarded seven honorary doctorates during her career, in the 1980s she was named a visiting professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
She retired permanently to her Indian Hill home in 1989 and, in 1994, was inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame. Mrs. Spain served on the President's Committee for the Handicapped, the Ohio Governor's Commission on the Status of Women, and the board of Cincinnati's Children's Hospital.
In addition to her son Jon, other survivors include her husband, John Autis Spain of Indian Hill; another son, Jeff of Loveland; and five grandchildren.
But she was also dedicated to advancing opportunities for women and the blind. "Life should be a place of service," she once advocated in a commencement speech before the U.S. Civil Service Commission.
Mrs. Spain died March 1, 2003 at Sunrise Assisted Living in Kenwood. The former Indian Hill resident was 81. With distinctive blonde hair and a penchant for pastels, "she disarmed the business world in the 60s and 70s, said her son Jon Spain of Los Angeles. In the 1960s she attended trade fairs for the U. S. Department of State and Commerce, traveling to several former Communist countries, North Africa, India and Greece to advocate the importance of hiring blind workers. At her own company, she hired one blind employee for every 10.
Raised in Cincinnati, Mrs. Spain earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley in the late 1940s. She moved back to Cincinnati shortly after college and took a job at Alvey-Ferguson, the conveyor manufacturing company. She was named president and CEO in 1952. The company was acquired by Litton Industries in 1966, now a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.
She sat on the board for Litton Industries when the company was the 39th largest in the United States. She also held board positions at Beatrice Foods and Ohio National Life Insurance.
In 1971, Mrs. Spain was named vice chairman of the U.S. Civil Service Commission. There, she advocated equal opportunity for women, and thought equal opportunity meant equal responsibility. She joined Gulf Oil in Pittsburgh in the late 1970s. Although her career meant spending much of her time in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, Mrs. Spain never gave up her residency in Indian Hill.
She was awarded seven honorary doctorates during her career, in the 1980s she was named a visiting professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
She retired permanently to her Indian Hill home in 1989 and, in 1994, was inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame. Mrs. Spain served on the President's Committee for the Handicapped, the Ohio Governor's Commission on the Status of Women, and the board of Cincinnati's Children's Hospital.
In addition to her son Jon, other survivors include her husband, John Autis Spain of Indian Hill; another son, Jeff of Loveland; and five grandchildren.
Jayne Baker Spain was equal parts business woman and humanitarian. Mrs. Spain was a former president and chief executive officer of Alvey-Fergus manufacturing company (now a part of Northrop Grumman) and a senior vice president of public affairs for Gulf Oil.
But she was also dedicated to advancing opportunities for women and the blind. "Life should be a place of service," she once advocated in a commencement speech before the U.S. Civil Service Commission.
Mrs. Spain died March 1, 2003 at Sunrise Assisted Living in Kenwood. The former Indian Hill resident was 81. With distinctive blonde hair and a penchant for pastels, "she disarmed the business world in the 60s and 70s, said her son Jon Spain of Los Angeles. In the 1960s she attended trade fairs for the U. S. Department of State and Commerce, traveling to several former Communist countries, North Africa, India and Greece to advocate the importance of hiring blind workers. At her own company, she hired one blind employee for every 10.
Raised in Cincinnati, Mrs. Spain earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley in the late 1940s. She moved back to Cincinnati shortly after college and took a job at Alvey-Ferguson, the conveyor manufacturing company. She was named president and CEO in 1952. The company was acquired by Litton Industries in 1966, now a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.
She sat on the board for Litton Industries when the company was the 39th largest in the United States. She also held board positions at Beatrice Foods and Ohio National Life Insurance.
In 1971, Mrs. Spain was named vice chairman of the U.S. Civil Service Commission. There, she advocated equal opportunity for women, and thought equal opportunity meant equal responsibility. She joined Gulf Oil in Pittsburgh in the late 1970s. Although her career meant spending much of her time in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, Mrs. Spain never gave up her residency in Indian Hill.
She was awarded seven honorary doctorates during her career, in the 1980s she was named a visiting professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
She retired permanently to her Indian Hill home in 1989 and, in 1994, was inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame. Mrs. Spain served on the President's Committee for the Handicapped, the Ohio Governor's Commission on the Status of Women, and the board of Cincinnati's Children's Hospital.
In addition to her son Jon, other survivors include her husband, John Autis Spain of Indian Hill; another son, Jeff of Loveland; and five grandchildren.
But she was also dedicated to advancing opportunities for women and the blind. "Life should be a place of service," she once advocated in a commencement speech before the U.S. Civil Service Commission.
Mrs. Spain died March 1, 2003 at Sunrise Assisted Living in Kenwood. The former Indian Hill resident was 81. With distinctive blonde hair and a penchant for pastels, "she disarmed the business world in the 60s and 70s, said her son Jon Spain of Los Angeles. In the 1960s she attended trade fairs for the U. S. Department of State and Commerce, traveling to several former Communist countries, North Africa, India and Greece to advocate the importance of hiring blind workers. At her own company, she hired one blind employee for every 10.
Raised in Cincinnati, Mrs. Spain earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley in the late 1940s. She moved back to Cincinnati shortly after college and took a job at Alvey-Ferguson, the conveyor manufacturing company. She was named president and CEO in 1952. The company was acquired by Litton Industries in 1966, now a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman.
She sat on the board for Litton Industries when the company was the 39th largest in the United States. She also held board positions at Beatrice Foods and Ohio National Life Insurance.
In 1971, Mrs. Spain was named vice chairman of the U.S. Civil Service Commission. There, she advocated equal opportunity for women, and thought equal opportunity meant equal responsibility. She joined Gulf Oil in Pittsburgh in the late 1970s. Although her career meant spending much of her time in Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, Mrs. Spain never gave up her residency in Indian Hill.
She was awarded seven honorary doctorates during her career, in the 1980s she was named a visiting professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
She retired permanently to her Indian Hill home in 1989 and, in 1994, was inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame. Mrs. Spain served on the President's Committee for the Handicapped, the Ohio Governor's Commission on the Status of Women, and the board of Cincinnati's Children's Hospital.
In addition to her son Jon, other survivors include her husband, John Autis Spain of Indian Hill; another son, Jeff of Loveland; and five grandchildren.
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