 Though her older sister lived with her maternal grandparents Sada and Fred Beck, who were of Welch ancestry, Jane traveled with her parents, while her father sought work as a plumber.She attended elementary schools in Oklahoma, Texas and California, before graduating from Tulsa Central High School in 1954.In her last year of high school, McCarty began working as a commercial artist for Floyd Gates Studio in Tulsa and would work there for 24 years.