Jane Kathryn Nugent, MD, passed away peacefully in her sleep after a long battle with Multiple Sclerosis and more recently, congestive heart failure.

She was the beloved mother of Jennifer (Hazard) Dixon and her spouse Joe Dixon, Julie (Hazard) Olsen and her spouse Eric Olsen and Janine Nugent. Loving grandmother of Elaina Dixon, Justin Dixon, Hannah Dixon, Aaron Olsen and Ethan Olsen.

She was also the caring sister of George Nugent and his spouse Virginia Nugent and Laurel Nugent Calwil and herspouse David Calwil; and cherished aunt of Georgeanna Nugent and her fiance Eric Miller and their children Ripley Lynch, Maginn Lynch; Douglas Nugent and his spouse Anna Nugent and their child Salvatore Nugent; Patricia Burgin and her spouse Jake Smith and their child Brenna Smith; and Cassandra (Burgin) Wahl and her spouse Tyler Wahl

Jane was born on June 7, 1941, in Newark NJ to George S and Lorraine Nugent. She grew up in Monmouth County, NJ, with her brother George D and Laurel, and graduated at the top of her class from Red Bank High School in 1959.

Throughout her adolescence, Jane was an avid sewer, making most of her own clothes, Barbie clothes and doll outfits, and even designed and made costumes for school musicals, while also performing in those shows. She also made quilts, and many “Amu” stuffed animals for and with her 17-years younger sister Laurel. Jane was a head majorette and performed with her high school marching band. She also played French horn in the concert band. Being so good with her hands, Jane's sewing skills and her strong desire to help others made pursuing a career in medicine an obvious choice. A surgeon she met during high school was so impressed by her, he invited her to observe a surgery in the local hospital (she claims she was in the actual operating room and even helped sew the stitches, which my father confirmed is entirely possible in that time, though certainly not possible today). She was fascinated by that experience, which cemented her decision to focus on becoming a doctor.

She chose to attend Stanford because according to her, "going out west was too much of an adventure to refuse." That statement pretty much sums up most of her life. In addition to her studies, Jane continued to costume multiple musical productions during college. After 2 years at Stanford and despite loving her life there, she decided to transfer back east to Wellesley College to be closer to her family in NJ. She graduated from Wellesley with a BA in Biology in 1963.

She graduated from Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons (P&S) in 1968 with her MD in Pediatrics. She married her first husband and had two daughters, Jennifer and Julie, all while completing her residency in Rhode Island. Jane also continued to sew most of her own clothes, in addition to many matching outfits for the girls as well. After their divorce, she lived in Oneonta NY, Elmira NY, and Seattle WA to complete a fellowship in Pediatric Endocrinology. She was always looking to better herself to be more competitive in her field. After her fellowship, she moved back to Binghamton NY to be closer to family again, and where she specialized in human growth hormone treatments and also got involved in the teaching side of medicine. She also attended any and all medical conferences in an area where she could ski - one of her favorite things to do.

Jane’s second marriage, which was to her high school sweetheart, brought her her third daughter Janine. Unfortunately, they also divorced, and she relocated to Syracuse NY, for a teaching position that allowed her to stay closer to family for help with young Janine. In 1988, Jane was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. This diagnosis was devastating to her, and it was over a year before she shared it with her family. Shortly thereafter, Janine was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. For most people, the combination of these two blows might have destroyed them, but Jane picked herself up once again, and fought to get the best services for Janine and continued to be as active as possible herself, hoping to fend off severe disability from her MS as long as possible.

In 1993, Jane and her mother were involved in a head-on collision which killed her mother. Jane miraculously survived after her heart stopped 3 different times during surgery. She worked hard in rehab, but the accident accelerated her MS which kept her from making a full recovery. This forced her to retire from her medical practice, so she focused on Janine’s needs.

Her MS was the chronic progressive type, and over the years, Jane slowly had to give in to using a manual wheelchair, and ultimately an electric wheelchair. She was determined to do right by Janine, but was needing more help to take care of her. Bob came back into their lives, and they had several good years of enjoying train trips and other fun activities with Janine. Tragically, in 2001, he was diagnosed with leukemia and died fairly quickly. She realized it was getting too hard for them to be up in Syracuse alone, so they moved down to Maryland in 2003 to be near Jennifer’s family. They could provide assistance when needed, and Jane could still have some independence. It was getting harder to take care of Janine, so we placed her in a group home in Silver Spring, where she could still join in for family events, and they could still do special things together with help.

Jane loved to travel, and took many trips with Janine. She stayed involved in her quilting club, where she loved making quilts for orphans and low income babies in our area. She also participated in her local senior center’s AARP group, where she assisted with jewelry fundraising sales, helped make flower arrangements for local hospitals, and participated in a reading program at her nearby elementary “Adopt a Grandparent” program.

But her biggest pride and joy were her 5 grandchildren - Elaina, Justin, Aaron, Hannah, and Ethan. Some of her happiest moments were being at any event related to her grandchildren. When she still could, she would drive up to NJ to see Julie and her family for holidays, birthday parties, or just random visits to see Julie’s two boys, and taking Janine along too. She attended as many of Jen’s kids’ events as she could - piano recitals, Chorus concerts, field hockey, lacrosse, and basketball games, dance competitions. You name it, she wanted to be there watching - and sometimes sleeping from the exhaustion of getting there thanks to the MS - but they always knew how much she cared. Her positive attitude, as well as her determination to live every day to the fullest, knowing that at any time she could be unable to do any of it, is not only inspiring, but probably the main reason she lived to be 81-½, which is amazing for someone with MS.

Jane had a lot of hard knocks and many successes during her life. But her legacy will be her deep love of family, her strong will to not let her challenges get her down, and always finding the positives in life and having a “Carpe Diem” or “Seize the Day” attitude. Even in death, she wanted to continue her lifelong contribution to science. Her brain and other tissues were donated to the Rocky Mountain MS Center Tissue Bank, which by happy coincidence, works with a research group at Columbia University Medical School, and where she always wanted her body to end up. She would be so pleased about that.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the National MS Society.

Memorial Service and Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, January 21 from 2:00-4:30pm at Rockville Senior Center Carnation Room, 1150 Carnation Dr, Rockville MD. Please wear bright colors - Jane was not a fan of black and this is a celebration of her amazing life.