Our Meeting

The first time I met Jan was at an Academy benefit for Rainbow History. I was one of the performers so I was in drag. Jan and I chatted during the benefit and then went our separate ways. Then our friend Carl was in the hospital and we both ended up visiting at the same time. Of course I wasn't in drag then. As we talked Jan kept starring at me with a puzzled look on her face. Finally, I said Danielle Devereaux. See laughed and said now I know who you are. When I started dating Mark, Jan and I became quick friends. She was a delight to be around and a blessing in everyone's life. I will miss her very much, but will always have her with me in my heart and memory. Although I am sad for myself and those of us left here without her, I am extremely happy that she has moved on to the blessings God has promised.

The first drag show

Jan became a great partisan of female illusionists. In the late 90s I began a free newsletter about drag called the Drag Rag. I urged Jan to come see a show and she resisted. Finally, she agreed to go with me one night to the show at Mr. P's on P St near Dupont. She was hesitant but quickly took to the show and traded banter with show host Xavier Bloomingdale who seeing Jan was new and straight asked "Do you like men?". Yes, answered Jan. "Well so do I!" answered the statuesque drag queen. Newcomer drag performer Esmeralda Kane Jaymes caught Jan's eye and they struck up a conversation.

Jan was hooked! And soon she was writing Straight Talk for the Drag Rag. And attending the shows at the Academy of Washington where she found a whole new set of friends. And watching 12 years worth of drag careers develop.

Meeting Jan

It took me years to learn that Jan was actually Janice Ann. She always preferred "Jan". I first met her in 1991 at the Names Project office in DC at 16th and K where I was the volunteer Volunteer Coordinator and where she came to contribute her sewing skills to people making panels for the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt. She was a strong, no-nonsense personality -- which immediately drew me to her. In those days she drank and smoked, drawing the ire of Bonnie and Mireille, the self-proclaimed mavens of Names Project. Jan pitched right in helping anyone who needed help, choosing fabric,getting things measured, starting them on stitching. Whatever needed doing. She was a trip and a trip that I willingly took for 20 years.