Janet Josephine Gorrell Meyer
Winamac, Pulaski County
December 20, 1918 to August 19, 1995
Journalist and naturalist Janet Gorrell Meyer was born and raised in Winamac, and was endeared to her hometown community with a lifetime dedication to her family’s weekly newspaper and an abundant appreciation of local nature.
She is perhaps best remembered for her 30-year association with the Pulaski County Democrat (renamed Journal in 1956) from 1940 to 1970. She graduated from Winamac High School in 1936 and joined the newspaper after graduating from Indiana University. The newspaper was owned for three generations by the Gorrell family. In addition to her editing work, she wrote a weekly column of personal views known as “The Old Man’s daughter,” a companion piece to her father’s “The Old Man at the Desk.”
Later in life, she and husband, Verlin “Itch” Meyer, together with friends Orville and Wyoma Berns, acquired a 20-acre tract of virgin woods southwest of Winamac. For years they conducted nature walks, sharing with others their knowledge of the local woodlands. Regular tours were also conducted for pupils of the county elementary schools. The acreage was later donated to the state and is now the property of the Indiana Nature Conservancy. It is officially named the Berns-Meyer Nature Preserve.
For 19 years Mrs. Meyer served as editor of the Arrow Head Country RC&D Nature Newsletter. For her conservation work, the Indiana Wildlife Federation named her Educator Conservationist of the Year in 1986. The Hoosier Soil Conservation Society also gave her an award in 1972.
Located just north of their Nature Preserve, near their residence along the Tippecanoe River, was once the Meyer Daffodil Woods. Mr. Meyer planted the daffodil bulbs by the bushels in the early 1960s. Thousands of daffodil varieties bloomed every spring, and visitors were welcomed to come and enjoy the beautiful flowers, either by car or on foot.
Mrs. Meyer had a long association with the Pulaski County Historical Society, and with her husband, was instrumental in establishing the county history museum.
She served several terms as trustee of Pulaski Memorial Hospital. She was a director of the PMH foundation, and served as an advisory board member of the Logansport State Hospital, having been appointed by the governor.
She was a long-time member of the Iris-Elm Garden Club (founded by her mother), and was also an active member of the Indian Creek Wheat Weavers. For more than 15 years she was Pulaski county’s official weather observer, succeeding her father who had served for nearly 25 years. She also served on the Girl Scout Council, was a tutor for Literacy Volunteers of America and helped various charities including United Way, American Red Cross, and March of Dimes.
Mrs. Meyer was also ordained a ruling elder of the Presbyterian Church in 1960 and was the first elder, as well as the first woman, to be elected as Moderator of Wabash Valley Presbytery. She served in numerous capacities at the Winamac church, as well as at presbytery and synod levels. She was trained and qualified as a lay preacher.
In 1988, Janet Meyer was presented the H. J. Halleck Community Service award by the Winamac (now Pulaski County) Chamber of Commerce.
Written by Karen Clem Fritz for the Indiana Commission for Women’s “Writing Her Story” project.