November 1990, five months after the pair married. The relationship was short-lived, however, and the couple divorced by 1993. That’s when a 19-year-old singer named Alanis Morissette began dating Coulier. Her angry Grammy-winning song, “You Oughta Know,” was about their failed romance and the lyrics may have referenced the actor’s ex. Was Modean the “older version of me” that Morissette sang about? The Clifton native doesn’t know for sure, but she said she likes the tune and would love to meet the artist one day.
Seventeen and Pageant Queen Jayne Modean was born on Oct. 15, 1958 in Hartford, Ct. but she grew up on Wester Pl. in Montclair Heights. She began modeling when she was just a first grader at School 16. “(Clifton historic writer) Phil Read’s next-door neighbor was Bobby Meyers and he was a kid model for toys and TV commercials,” said Modean.
Jayne with There’s Something About Mary director Peter Farrelly in the ’80s. 36
February 2009 • Clifton Merchant
Jayne’s mother Marcia, who worked for many years at Clifton’s Coldwell Banker selling real estate, Jayne’s son Luc and her father, Rev. Earl Modean, who was pastor for many years at First Lutheran Church in Clifton.
“My brother was playing up there one day and when my mom went to get him, she spoke to Bobby’s mom about it.” From then on, Marcia Modean would drive her four children— Nancy, Jayne, Kathy and Paul— back and forth to New York City for modeling jobs. “My mom was a bored housewife,” laughed the former actress. “She grew up in Minnesota and was the 4-H queen. She wasn’t really a pushy stage mother, but she just liked to have fun things for us to do.” Mrs. Modean worked for 10 years as the secretary at First Lutheran Church at the corner of Van Houten Ave. and Grove St. That’s where her husband, Earl, was pastor between 1960 and 1994. He was very active in the community and was instrumental in the creation of the Evergreen Manor senior citizen housing complex. As a student at Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Jayne won the National Singer Sewing Contest for her age group and won a free trip to London. There, she got to meet David Frost, the English jour-
nalist whose famous 1977 interview with Richard Nixon inspired the recent movie, Frost/Nixon. In 1974, Modean traveled to Little Rock, Ark. to compete in the Miss Teenage America Pageant. New Jersey didn’t have a local qualifying contest, so the Mustang cheerleader had to submit a movie of herself singing, tap dancing and sewing. The 16-year-old was accepted and flew first class down south with her mom. While she wasn’t crowned the winner, Modean did receive the Poise and Appearance award and the $500 college scholarship that came with it. “I was very happy to win that even though I didn’t get to win the whole contest,” she said. “We put on a tap number and I could tap so I found myself in the front on national TV.” On the way home, Modean was surprised to find the same pilot on the plane as the one who took her to Arkansas. “He let me sit in the cockpit when the plane took off and I stayed there the whole way,”