C ourageous M om — JAN LYNCH
The Matriarch
BY MARSHA BROWN
O
n a breezy California morning in 1958,
18-year-old Jan Lynch piled empty Coca-
Cola bottles in a paper grocery sack. Balancing
the bag of clinking bottles on her hip, she took
her toddler by the hand. The pair walked eight
blocks from their tiny apartment to a corner store.
With a handful of change earned from selling the
bottles, she bought Tootsie Rolls. Her little boy’s
face lit up when presented with the treats.
She smiled along with him, pushing away
worries of how a high school drop-out could ever
afford to give her son more.
“I married at 15 and it wasn’t long before I felt
like my decisions had messed up my life forever.
But, as it turned out, this was the beginning of
finding my true strengths and a fierce determina-
tion within me. I came back to Texas, and took a
job as a bookkeeper for a bank. But, I made more
money at my second job as a waitress at a nice
restaurant,” Jan said.
It was 1962, and the last thing Jan Lynch was
interested in was getting involved with another
man. But, she hadn’t counted on the good looks,
charm, and kindness of Roy Lynch. For his part,
Roy claimed he loved her from the moment he
set eyes on the petite, blonde beauty decked out
in a red dress.
“After a whirlwind six-month courtship, we
were married. Roy always supported me and my
desire to be a business leader,” says Jan. “Plus,
his experience over the years in construction and
selling residential real estate helped me under-
stand how to be successful.”
The young couple began their lifelong part-
nership with a move to a mobile home on his
mother’s land near Lubbock. Working at a variety
of jobs, Jan and Roy supported themselves and
two children, plus a new baby.
After three years on the high plains, the
couple believed a larger city offered more options
for a better life. They moved back to Fort Worth,
with Roy landing an assembly line job at General
Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin), and Jan
continuing employment in banking.
“I was eventually promoted to head teller at a
bank in west Fort Worth. It was here that I took
on serious job responsibilities — accounting for
all the money coming in and going out of the
bank. Plus, I had the opportunity to encourage
women and help them see their importance in
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