Janet (JAN) Michele KEROUAC

Presentation

Since Jan's first memorable meeting with the KFA board members in Quebec City, on 17 December 1988, the Association des familles Kirouac (KFA)published many texts about Jan Kerouac. The board members were delighted to share a meal with Jack Kerouac's daughter at Chez Camille, a restaurant located in the Saint-Sacrement district in Quebec City. There is still a restaurant at that location but the locale has been fully renovated and is called La Girolle.

In this section on Jan Kerouac for our KFA website, you will find texts previously published in various issues of Le Trésor des Kirouac, the KFA news bulletin. Many new photos have been added to the texts presented in this special edition.

We are most grateful to the following people for their generous contributions of texts and photos for the present document: Gerald Nicosia, the author of Memory Babe, the outstanding critical biography of Jack Kerouac; Jacqueline Arruda Soarès, from Brazil whose subject for her final university paper was the Beat Generation's influence on Brazilian youth; also David (Bowers) Stuart, Jan's half-brother. Besides the KFA's archives and those of the late Jacques Kirouac, KFA founding president, their kind contributions greatly enriched this Special Edition on Jan Kerouac.

THE THREE GREAT COMBATS OF JAN KEROUAC

All who knew Jan Kerouac were aware of how much her life was scarred by the absence of her father. It was obvious. Her father's absence irremediably shaped her life and affected every decision she made.

Likewise, how could her three great battles that so deeply impacted her short life be forgotten. The longest struggle started in the Nineties. Jan used most of her energy fighting a legal battle with the Sampases of Lowell over her father's estate. Jan first sued in May 1994, and the case was reopened in 1996 after her death by Jack's nephew, Paul Blake Jr, the son of his sister, Caroline Kerouac-Blake. Jan never saw the end result of this legal battle. It is only on 24 July 2009 that Judge George Greer of Pinellas County, Florida, declared that the will of Gabrielle Kerouac (who died in 1973) was forged. Through this will, Jack's widow, Stella (Sampas)* Kerouac, inherited all of her husband's estate. This first decision in favour of Jack Kerouac's heirs was confirmed by appellate decision in 2011. Gerald Nicosia, author and close friend of Jan, summarized this saga which was published in Le Trésor des Kirouac, and which you can read at The saga of Jack Kerouac's estate.

However, the Sampases retained sole control of Jack's estate because of the special Florida law called: non-claim statute. This law stipulates that any claim must be presented within a two-year delay after the death of a person. Stella died in 1990, but Jan discovered her grandmother's will only in 1994, i. e., four years after Stella's death. According to the Florida, non-claim statute law, Jan's right to present a claim had expired.

The saga that started with Jan's first legal proceeding in 1994 to enable her father's legal heirs to be acknowledged is clearly explained in Gerald Nicosia's book published in the autumn 2019 and entitled: Kerouac: The Last Quarter Century.

Jan's second great battle started at the same time. She unsuccessfully tried to get her father's remain to be transferred into the Kerouac family lot in the Old Saint-Louis-de-Gonzague Cemetery in Nashua, NH, so he would be with his parents, Léo-Alcide Kerouac and Gabrielle

Lévesque. This second battle she also lost. Jack is still in the Sampas family lot in the Edson Cemetery in Lowell (Mass.). Jan lost this second battle because of Stella Sampas' wish that Jack, her husband, be buried with Jack's boyhood friend, Sebastian (Sammy) Sampas***, her own brother killed in World War II.

Finally, the third and last battle Jan fought until her death, was to try to keep together her father's archives, that battle was lost as Jack's works were sold peace-meal to highest bidders, thus dispersed.***

NOTES :

* His full Greek name is Stavroula Sampatacacus.

**The Lowell Sun, Wednesday, March 13, 1996, pp. 1 & 4, John Novack and Peter Ward; Monday, April First, 1996, David Perry, pp. 1 & 4.

***Part of his archives were ceded to Emory University, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, in Atlanta, Georgia, and to New York City Public Library. Many documents and manuscripts are in private hands.

ENGLISH AUDIO DOCUMENTS

In this section devoted to Jan Kerouac, there are videos graciously supplied by Jesse Block, Chris Agg and David (Bowers) Stuart. We sincerely thank them as, again, we thank Ms. Jacqueline Arruda Soarès and Gerald Nicosia for their help in procuring these videos.