Dr. Eric Martin Jayne, Dvm

Dr. Eric Martin Jayne, DVM, 61, of Des Moines, Iowa, died Friday, July 2, 2021, due to a traffic accident near Grand Forks, ND. He was preparing for a weekend of doing something he loved - working with his life partner and a fellow vet on a clinic reconstruction project. The void left by his sudden death is as wide and deep as his legacy. Eric was born on September 2, 1959, in Reading, PA to Carlos and Nancy Jayne. The family lived in Cleveland, OH, Milwaukee, WI, Harrisburg, PA, Greensboro, NC, Wauwatosa, WI, and Carmel, IN before moving to Des Moines in 1968. He was active in Boy Scout Troop 50 and received the Eagle Scout Award in 1974 for a project related to the membership of Grace United Methodist Church. In 1976, he rode his bicycle across the country from the base of Mt. Rainier to Washington, D.C. where he delivered a petition of signatures to the Iowa Delegation in Congress to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska from oil drilling. He was a graduate of Roosevelt High School, the University of Iowa and Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Recently, Eric earned a Master’s degree in Indigenous Law from the University of Oklahoma. Eric’s life was devoted to all animals, those who needed help caring for them and training others to help in that effort. He was deeply committed to bringing services to underserved communities. Eric started clinics in Ames, Collins, and Pleasant Hill before leaving Iowa and heading west with his young family following the death of his first wife. He established a clinic in Washington and lived there before moving north to Alaska. During his years in Alaska, he became known as “The Bush Vet” for his tireless work traveling to remote villages and areas to treat animals. He traveled up and down the Yukon River in a canoe, working on animals where he was needed most. For several years, he served as a vet for the Iditarod and had his own sled dog teams to travel the state and participate in races. Through his work teaching classes for the University of Alaska Fairbanks, he taught folks in remote areas to do some minor veterinary work themselves. He worked to reform Alaska’s veterinary laws to benefit areas without veterinarians through the use of telemedicine and veterinary assistants. That push to reform continues today. While living in Alaska, he and his family built a large home on Lake Chandalar, above the Arctic Circle and 60 miles from the town of Coldfoot. The house is only accessible by plane, dog sled or snow machine. Eric’s family and their life on Chandalar was the subject of 3 chapters in Peter Jenkins book, Looking for Alaska, written in 2001. After many years, he moved on to Arkansas where he became Medical Director at both Spay Arkansas and the Tulsa Humane Society in Oklahoma. He also lived and worked on the Island of Molokai in Hawaii as the Humane Society veterinarian. Eric was the state representative for the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association for both Arkansas and Hawaii. He traveled to Puerto Rico as part of “Spayathon for Puerto Rico,” where thousands of animals were spayed or neutered in multiple clinics. Most recently, he became the Indigenous Program Medical Director for Animal Balance and was actively working on constructing a veterinary clinic on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. According to Animal Balance, “Eric was becoming the leader to stamp out racism against indigenous peoples everywhere. He was gentle and graceful with his words. He was leading us into a new era. He was carefully navigating indigenous laws so that he could bring in resources to tribes to allow for self-determination.” He and his life partner, Sally Cooper Smith, established Sovereign Nations Veterinary to support and improve pet care for Native American people. For those wishing to learn more about Eric’s life and work, visit the public Face Book page, “Tales and Legends of Dr. Eric Jayne, DVM.” Eric is survived by his children, Mike, Pete (Emily), Elizabeth and Daniel Jayne, his life partner Sally Cooper Smith and her daughter Emily Cooper Smith, his mother Nancy Wittman, his father and step-mother Carlos & Betsy Jayne, his sisters Andrea Jayne (Paul Nero) and Dori Leslie (James), his grandchildren Tegan, Anneliese, Ayden and Mabel Jayne, his nephews Owen Nero and Erik Campbell (Dawn), step-siblings Angela Ihry, Lisa Armstrong and Michael Armstrong, as well as many aunts, uncles, cousins, life-long friends and beloved animals. He was preceded in death by his first wife and mother of his children, Sally Fry. A celebration of Eric’s life will be held at 2 P.M. on Saturday, July 24th, 2021, at Grace United Methodist Church, 37th & Cottage Grove in Des Moines. Memorial contributions may be made to Sovereign Nations Veterinary for scholarships for veterinarian education for indigenous nations www.gofund.me/704a9377, Animal Balance https://www.animalbalance.org/ or Greater Good Charities https://greatergood.com/clicktogive/ggc/home