Biography

Jane Carney Svoboda was born in 1944 to an Irish-American farm family of eight near Clutier, Iowa. After graduating from Clutier High School in 1962, she worked at the State Home for Juveniles in Toledo, Iowa, while living at home. She married a neighboring farmer Stanley Svoboda, in 1964, and had four children between 1964 and 1981. They farmed land belonging to the extended Svoboda family, eventually buying the farm of Stanley Svoboda’s parents in 1974. In the late 1970s, they faced bankruptcy due to the high interest rates and low crop prices. They became actively involved with the Democratic Party, the Farmers’ Union, PrarieFire Rural Action, and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement during the 1980s. Jane Svoboda worked at the Juvenile Home until 1972, until after the birth of their second child. When the family finances were threatened, she began doing home sales, and with her husband’s support and encouragement earned a significant income. In 1986, she ran for and served three terms in the Iowa House of Representatives—the same year that Stanley Svoboda began contract long-distance mail cartage for the United States Postal Service. During these years, the Svobodas abandoned farming and put the majority of their farm land into the Conservation Reserve Program. When Jane Svoboda left the legislature, she bought a garbage-hauling route, which she owns and operates. Stanley Svoboda died in 2000.

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