GOSHEN, KY — Jan Musson, founder of Santa Clara, CA-based Musson Theatrical, died peacefully at home in Goshen, KY at 10:30 p.m. Dec. 21, 2015. She was 79. A graduate of Stanford University who received her Master’s degree from San José State University, Jan founded Musson Theatrical Inc. in 1971. The company, launched as a home-based business, grew to offer a full range of theatrical sales and rentals, system design and specification, custom drapery and rigging design and installation, event design and production services.
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“There were fixtures, color and cable in the basement, dimmers in the dining room, followspots in the bathroom, and lamps in the bathtub,” Jan once said. Today, with full rental, sales, and production services departments, Musson is one of the largest full service theatrical supply houses in the nation. Although she sold the business to Bob Downs in 1995, Jan’s courage, tenacity, intelligence, and humor continue to be a positive influence on the Musson Theatrical team.
In addition to her work at Musson, Jan was a stage lighting designer at multiple theatres in the Silicon Valley for over 20 years. She moved to Louisville in 1988 and opened a branch of Musson Theatrical there in 1989, which she subsequently sold to the employees. She also served as stage lighting designer for Walden Theatre in Louisville, and was a Fellow of the United States Institute of Theatre Technology (USITT).
Musson president Bob Downs says, “There is no overstating the influence Jan had on so many of us. She happily gave me all the tools I needed to establish my position with her company, and we have always stayed in touch. I spoke with her for the last time a week ago. She was laughing then and probably still is. That is what we all will remember.”
“I literally grew up at Musson,” says rental and production services manager Linnie McIntyre. “Jan hired me at 18 and told me to learn everything I could and never stop learning. I was there when the building on Stockton Street was lost to a fire, and we moved into our current location. Through that tragedy, Jan was touched by the number of customers offering to return items they had just purchased to provide us with inventory, or offering equipment at no charge so we could meet our rental needs. She had no idea why anyone would do such a thing, or how much she meant to so many of us.”
Musson’s director of marketing and business development, Dinna Myers, says, “She was an inspiration to me, and to many women wanting to break into the male-dominated world of entertainment lighting and sound in the 1980’s. She helped to blaze a path for the generation behind her, and it is a debt we can never repay. She will be dearly missed.”
Jan is survived by her husband, Warwick Musson, brother, Frederick Morris (Lucy); Napa, CA., niece, Juliana Hube, nephews, Gregory and Keith Morris, and grandnieces.
A funeral service was held Dec. 26, 2015 at Pearson’s Funeral Home at 149 Breckenridge Lane in Louisville, KY. A second a memorial service and interment will occur some time in early January in Los Gatos, CA. Please visit http://www.musson.com/about/news/ for additional information as it becomes available.
As Jan was an avid supporter of the performing arts, her wishes were that, in lieu of flowers or other expressions of sympathy, donations in her name be made to one of the following nonprofit organizations, or any performing arts organization of your choosing:
Louisville Orchestra at https://www.louisvilleorchestra.org
Louisville Ballet at http://www.louisvilleballet.org
Lyric Theatre of San Jose at http://www.lyrictheatre.org
San Jose Dance Theatre at http://www.sjdt.org
Remembrances, stories, and memories of Jan may be publicly shared here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1494837804157966/?pnref=story
