Editing Jane Rule (section)

==Early life==
Born in [[Plainfield, New Jersey|Plainfield]], [[New Jersey]], Jane Vance Rule was the oldest daughter of Carlotta Jane Hink-Packer and Arthur Richards Rule.<ref name=":0">"Jane Rule" in the 1940 United States Federal Census (Year: ''1940''; Census Place: ''Hinsdale, DuPage, Illinois''; Roll: ''m-t0627-00797''; Page: ''19A''; Enumeration District: ''22-38)''</ref> Both her parents were college educated and her father worked in the military.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Jane Rule {{!}} The Canadian Encyclopedia|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/jane-vance-rule|access-date=2020-07-29|website=www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca}}</ref> Rule described her mother as "a materially spoiled and emotionally depraved only child".<ref>{{Cite web|last=CaseytheCanadianLesbrarian|date=2016-05-19|title="how to live with the baggage of life": A Review of Jane Rule's Memoir TAKING MY LIFE|url=https://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.com/2016/05/19/how-to-live-with-the-baggage-of-life-a-review-of-jane-rules-memoir-taking-my-life/|access-date=2020-07-29|website=Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian|language=en}}</ref> Rule was also the middle of three children, with an older brother and a younger sister.<ref name=":0" />

Because she grew up in a military family, Rule moved frequently—to [[Hinsdale, Illinois]],<ref name=":0" /> and later to [[California]] and [[Missouri]], and then back to California where her father served in the Pacific during [[World War II]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|last=Martin|first=Sandra|date=28 Nov 2007|title=Jane Rule, 76|work=The Globe and Mail|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/jane-rule-76/article20406320/?page=all|access-date=2020-07-29}}</ref> She says she was a [[tomboy]] growing up and felt like an outsider for reaching six feet tall by age 12 and being [[dyslexic]]. When she was 15 she read ''[[The Well of Loneliness]]'' and wrote later that she, "suddenly discovered that [she] was a freak."<ref name=":2" />

Rule earned a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in [[English literary studies|English]] from [[Mills College]] in California in 1952.<ref name=":1" /> Almost immediately after graduation, she sailed in the [[RMS Queen Mary|Queen Mary]]<ref>"Jane V. Rule" in the U.S., Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1914-1966 (The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: ''Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels and Airplanes Departing from New York, New York, 07/01/1948-12/31/1956''; NAI Number: ''3335533''; Record Group Title: ''Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004''; Record Group Number: ''85''; Series Number: ''A4169''; NARA Roll Number: ''81)''</ref> to spend a year in [[London]], following a female lover. There, she was an occasional student at [[University College London|University College, London]], and began work on her first novel.

Rule returned to the U.S. to work at the writing department at [[Stanford University]], but she quit after a few months because of "the competitive, commercial atmosphere of the school, the condescending attitude toward women students". She then lived at home with her parents until 1954.<ref name=":2" />

Beginning in 1954, Rule taught at [[Concord Academy]] in [[Massachusetts]] where she met [[Helen Sonthoff]] (September 11, 1916 - January 3, 2000), a fellow creative writing and literature teacher. The two fell in love, but at the time of their meeting, Sonthoff was married.<ref name=":2" />

Worried about politics and McCarthyism of the 50s in America, Rule moved with her friend and literary critic, [[John Hulcoop]], to [[Vancouver|Vancouver, British Columbia]] in 1956. While there, she worked at the [[University of British Columbia]], as well as wrote her first novel.

While living together, Rule and Hulcoop's relationship became romantic. However, that became complicated by the arrival of the woman Hulcoop would marry, as well as the arrival of Helen Sonthoff. Sonthoff was recently divorced and went to Vancouver for a vacation, which turned into a life-long relationship with Jane Rule.<ref name=":2" />