Janet Huntington Brewster

Janet Huntington Brewster (September 18, 1910 – December 18, 1998) was an American philanthropist, writer, radio broadcaster and relief worker during World War II in London. She was the wife of broadcaster Edward R. Murrow.

Janet Huntington Brewster was born in Middletown, Connecticut, on September 18, 1910, the daughter of Charles Huntington Brewster, a prosperous automobile dealer, and Jennie Johnson, the daughter of Swedish immigrants. Her grandfather, Charles Kingman Brewster, was the county commissioner of Hampshire County, Massachusetts. She was also a direct descendant of Elder William Brewster, (c. 1567 - April 10, 1644), the Pilgrim leader and spiritual elder of the Plymouth Colony and a passenger on the Mayflower, through his son Jonathan Brewster. She was also a descendant of Mayflower passenger John Howland Her first cousin was Kingman Brewster, Jr.

She graduated from Middletown High School in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1929. While attending high school, she was an outstanding student, head of the debating society and editor of the school magazine. She received her B.A. in economics and sociology in 1933 from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. As a student leader at Mount Holyoke, she met Edward R. Murrow, a graduate of Washington State College, now Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington, and president of the National Student Federation of America.

After graduating from college, she considered working at the Henry Street Settlement House in New York, where many years later she would serve on the board. She was also considered acting as a career as well. She was a talented actress who played several roles for a summer stock company in New London, New Hampshire, including the lead role in Sidney Howard's, The Late Christopher Bean. She ultimately moved back with her parents and taught freshman English and commercial law at the high school in Middletown, Connecticut.

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