An oral history interview with Jan Licht

              WISCONSIN
HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
An Oral History Interview with
JAN LICHT
Interviewer: .Anita Hecht, Life History Services
Recording Date: November 11, 2010
Place: Madison, Wisconsin. Length: 1.75 hours
Jan Cathy Sawall Licht was born in 1949, the second daughter born to Ellen Hodges Sawall (later
Proxmire) and Warren Sawall. Her parents divorced in 1954 and in 1956, her mother married William
Proxmire. Jan, her mother, and sister Mary Ellen all moved into the Proxmire house. .After Proxmire was
elected to the Senate, the family permanently moved to Washington DC.
Upon graduation from Sidwell Friends School in 1967, she returned to Wisconsin to attend Beloit
College. She received a bachelor's degree in Sociology and Psychology in 1971. She soon moved to
Chicago where she married Gregory Michael Licht in 1972. Together they raised two children before
divorcing in 1989.
In 1989, she earned her masters degree from the Adler Institute of Professional Psychology and then
worked until 1997 for the DuPage County Psychological Services as a psychotherapist. From 1997 to
2006, she worked as the manager of a women's halfway house program before returning to DuPage
County Psychological Sendees as their clinical supervisor for substance abuse and domestic violence
programs.
Jan Cathy Sawall Licht Transcript
Proxmire Oral History Project