Jan Ashley: Miss Tulsa, John Ashley & Robert Kardashian

Jan Ashley, born Janice Lynn Glass, was an American beauty queen and office worker who later became known through two very different marriages. She was Miss Tulsa in 1966, worked for Phillips Petroleum, and later spent almost 20 years with actor and producer John Ashley. In 1998, she married attorney Robert Kardashian Sr., although that second marriage was brief. She died in 2015 at age 67, after returning to Oklahoma in her later years.

Her life began far from the Kardashian spotlight. It moved from Texas to Oklahoma, then to California, and later back to Oklahoma. Along the way, she built a career, won a local pageant title, became part of Hollywood through John, and later entered one of America’s best-known family stories.

Her Story Started in Texas and Oklahoma

Jan Ashley was born Janice Lynn Glass in Amarillo, Texas, in August 1948. The family later moved to Tulsa when she was seven.

Her official funeral record has a small conflict over the exact day of birth. The page header gives August 3, while the obituary text says August 1. Both agree on the month, year, birthplace, and her age at death.

Her parents were James Douglas Glass and Monnie M. Glass, and she grew up in Tulsa and attended Will Rogers High School.

For Jan Ashley, Tulsa stayed important throughout her life. It was where she went to school, entered pageants, worked in the oil business, met John Ashley, and later returned in her final years.

Miss Tulsa Came Before Any Hollywood Link

In 1966, she became Miss Tulsa. Historical Miss Oklahoma records list Janice Lynn Glass as Tulsa’s representative in that year’s state contest. Jane Jayroe won the state title and later became Miss America 1967.

That title matters because it came more than 30 years before her marriage to Robert Kardashian. It shows that she had a public identity long before the Kardashian name brought wider attention.

There is no strong record of a long modeling career after the pageant, and her next clear work chapter was in business.

According to her Floral Haven Funeral Home obituary, she worked as an executive secretary to K. S. “Boots” Adams of Phillips Petroleum.

That job placed her inside one of Oklahoma’s major companies. It also gives a more grounded view of her early adult life than the usual celebrity labels.

Her First Long Marriage Was to John Ashley

After moving back to Tulsa, she met John Ashley, and the couple married in 1978 before moving to California.

John had already spent years in film and television, acting in movies such as Hud and several beach films. Later, he moved into production and worked on television shows including The A-Team and Walker, Texas Ranger.

For Jan, this was not a short Hollywood marriage, because it lasted from 1978 until his death in 1997.

That added up to almost 20 years together.

Her obituary later called John her loving husband. It also said she would be buried beside him at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in California.

John Ashley Died While Working on a Film

John died in October 1997 at age 62 while he was still working in film production.

The Los Angeles Times reported that he died in New York City while working on his latest feature film. Her obituary also says he died while a new movie was in production.

His death ended the longest known marriage of Jan Ashley’s life, and the next year brought a very different chapter.

She Married Robert Kardashian in 1998

Robert Kardashian was a Los Angeles attorney. He was also Kris Jenner’s former husband and the father of Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob Kardashian. By the late 1990s, he was widely known because of his role on O.J. Simpson’s defense team.

Jan and Robert married on November 25, 1998, a date that appears in Robert’s own 1999 court declaration.

The same document also explains one issue that became central to the split, because before the wedding both had agreed that they would have a child together.

Robert wrote that Jan had no children, but about two months after the wedding he changed his mind. He said he already had four biological children and did not want more.

The Short Marriage Ended in Annulment

The marriage did not last, and the legal dispute followed within months.

In May 1999, Robert signed a declaration while seeking a legal nullity. He said they had entered the marriage with the shared plan of having a child, then he changed his mind.

That is one of the clearest facts about the breakup because it came from Robert himself under penalty of perjury. The declaration was signed in Beverly Hills on May 13, 1999, several months after the November wedding.

A later PEOPLE profile describes the 1998 marriage as ending in annulment.

Some websites call it a “30-day marriage.” That wording is too simple. They married in late November 1998, and Robert’s court statement came in May 1999. His own account says he changed his mind about having a child about two months after the wedding.

She Had No Children of Her Own

Robert’s court declaration says Jan had no children when they married, while her 2015 obituary names her brother, his wife, and several nephews.

There is no strong public record showing that she later became a mother, so no children should be added to her biography.

That makes the child issue in the Kardashian marriage more important. It was not a side detail. Their shared plan to have a child appears directly in Robert’s own legal statement.

The 2012 Khloé Kardashian Claim Drew New Attention

Jan Ashley returned to national headlines in 2012 after years of much lower public visibility.

She told Star magazine that Robert had once told her Khloé was not his biological child. Ellen Pierson, Robert’s later wife, made a similar claim.

ABC News and CBS reported the comments, while Kris Jenner rejected them. Khloé also responded and strongly criticized the claims.

The allegation was never proved and remains disputed.

There is also a major conflict with Robert’s earlier court record. In his 1999 declaration, he wrote that he already had “four biological children.”

That sentence came more than a decade before the 2012 interviews and creates a direct conflict with the later claim.

So the later claim should not be treated as fact. It remains a disputed statement made years after Robert’s death.

Her Life Was Much Bigger Than One Kardashian Marriage

Modern searches often focus almost fully on the Kardashian link, but that covers only a small part of her life.

Before Robert, she had already lived for decades with her own work, family ties, and marriage history.

She grew up in Tulsa, became Miss Tulsa, and worked at Phillips Petroleum. She then spent nearly 20 years married to John Ashley.

By comparison, the Kardashian marriage was a short late-life chapter.

This wider timeline gives a more balanced picture of Jan Ashley. It also explains why her obituary focused far more on John, Oklahoma, and her own family than on Robert Kardashian.

She Returned to Oklahoma in 2012

Her obituary says she moved back to Oklahoma in 2012, returning to the state where much of her early life had taken place.

The move brought her back near the setting of many of her best-documented early years.

Tulsa was where she went to school, became Miss Tulsa, worked in business, and met John.

The move also happened in the same year that the Khloé Kardashian story put her name back in the press.

After that, her public record became quiet again. There is no strong evidence of a new marriage, public business, or media career in her final years.

She Died in 2015

Jan Ashley died on October 1, 2015, at age 67.

Floral Haven Funeral Home and Crematory handled the notice, and the family planned a private service.

The obituary said she would be buried beside John Ashley at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in California.

It did not give a cause of death, so later medical claims lack support from that official notice.

Because no cause was listed, later claims about a specific illness should not be treated as confirmed.

The Birth Date Has One Small Record Conflict

Her exact birthday is not fully settled by the strongest record because the same funeral-home page gives two different August dates.

The funeral-home page gives August 3, 1948 in its header. The obituary text on that same page says August 1, 1948.

Both parts agree on August 1948 and Amarillo, Texas, which is enough to state the month, year, and birthplace with confidence.

So August 1948 is the safest form to use when the exact day matters.

This is a small detail, but it shows why copied biography facts can become misleading when one source itself contains two dates.

Her Work and Family Roots Give the Story More Depth

Jan Ashley’s early work is often left out of short celebrity profiles, even though her Phillips Petroleum job is one of the clearest parts of her pre-Hollywood life.

Her role at Phillips Petroleum shows that she had a normal professional life before Hollywood became part of her story.

Her Miss Tulsa title adds another layer. It was a local public achievement, not a sign that she later built a large entertainment career.

Her long marriage to John adds the most important family context. He was an actor and producer, but the marriage lasted for many years before his death.

Those facts make her life more than a brief footnote in Robert Kardashian’s history.

How the Two Marriages Fit Into Her Life

The two marriages were very different in both length and public impact.

John was her husband for nearly two decades, and they moved to California together before staying married until his death.

Robert entered her life afterward, but their marriage lasted only a short time and ended through a nullity case.

The first marriage shaped a large part of her adult life. The second created the public link that still drives searches today.

Her final burial plan also points back to John. The family obituary said she would rest beside him. For Jan Ashley, that long first marriage takes up far more of the life record than the brief Kardashian chapter.

Jan Ashley’s Place in Celebrity History

Jan Ashley lived 67 years, and only a small part of that life was tied to the Kardashian family.

She was born in Texas, raised in Tulsa, became Miss Tulsa, worked in the oil business, and spent many years married to a film and television producer.

She later married Robert Kardashian, returned to public attention in 2012 because of a disputed family claim, and died in Oklahoma three years later.

For another profile about a former spouse whose own life goes well beyond a short Hollywood marriage, read our Sunshine Deia Tutt feature on LakewoodScoop.co.uk.