On a Tuesday evening in late October, Olympia Mayor Dontae Payne spoke about Jill Severn. During the Oct. 27 City Council meeting, Payne shared with the chamber that he had attended the Oct. 24 memorial gathering for Jill Severn at First Christian Church, The Olympian reported.
Severn, a longtime journalist and editorial writer for The Olympian, died of natural causes on Sept. 21 after dealing with health issues in recent years. She was 78.
From Klamath Falls to Global Reportage
Born Jill Belinda Grubb on Dec. 4, 1947, in Klamath Falls, Oregon, to parents Doris and Samuel Grubb, she arrived as the youngest of four children. Her upbringing in Portland set the stage for her career.
After finishing just a single quarter at the University of Washington, Severn stepped away from UW to launch her media career by taking on roles as a newscaster and public affairs programmer at Seattle radio stations. At age 30, she authored the gardening book Growing Vegetables in the Pacific Northwest.
Over the following five years, she worked busily as a freelance journalist, writing for various outlets that concentrated on international affairs. She served as a correspondent for Inter Press Service, a Rome-based global news agency. Much of her reporting during that era centered on women’s lives, coinciding with the United Nations designating 1975 as International Women’s Year. Her reportage included events at the United Nations and from five continents.
She later served for four years as the executive director of Seattle’s World Affairs Council, hosted a radio music show, and was a staff columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Seattle Weekly.
Shaping Policy and Housing in Olympia
Moving eventually to Olympia, Severn took a position within the Washington State Legislature as a policy analyst before transitioning into a speechwriting role for Governors Booth Gardner and Gary Locke.
“She, at one point, was a policy analyst in the Legislature,” Mayor Payne told the council. “She was a speechwriter for governors, both Republican and Democratic governors. She is a writer, so she’s written for several different people in our community of all types, and she is certainly going to be missed. She’s already missed.”
Beyond government offices, Severn helped found and transform Quixote Village into the permanent supportive housing community it is today. Sharing Severn’s obituary with The Olympian, close friend Anna Schlecht pointed out that Severn felt equally comfortable interacting with state and local government leaders as she did spending time with the unhoused friends she held dear to her heart.
Her civic footprint extended to printer’s ink and classrooms. She wrote civics and Washington State history textbooks for the League of Women Voters of Washington. From 2015 to 2021, she wrote for The Olympian, then was a gardening columnist for the Journal of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater (JOLT).
Remembering a Community Pillar
Severn’s passing caught her surviving siblings—scattered across California, Arizona, and Mexico—by surprise. Despite her recent health challenges, they noted that she likely surpassed them by far in energy expended and productivity.
She was predeceased by her parents and her daughter, Jane Kindel. She is survived by her son Joshua Baker and his daughter, Lorelei Baker; her granddaughter Jordan Knapp and Jordan’s two children, Bronne and Blake Knapp; her long-term companion George Walter; and an array of nieces, nephews, and cousins. She also leaves behind her chosen family: Mymy and Quan Nguyen, Frances Davis and Anna Schlecht.
The last time Mayor Payne saw Severn in the municipal chambers was in August, when she appeared for a Child Abuse Awareness proclamation. Closing his remarks to the council, Payne offered a final farewell: “I just want to say fly high to Jill, and thank you so much for everything that you’ve done for the city of Olympia, and we’re going to miss you.”
