After a year-long battle with cancer, my mother, Janice Eileen Coleman, passed away peacefully at her southern CA home last year on April 4, 2020.

 

Mom was born February 5th, 1937 in Vincent, Ohio. She was born in the farm house that her parents built. Mom’s dad went to work in Canton, Ohio where he found a good job, and the family joined him there where they rented a number of houses around town. Mom’s family ended up in Malvern, Ohio, and everywhere they stayed they seemed to end up looking after and caring for an elderly person. She recalled that her dad would buy sheet music on Fridays, and her mom would play piano and they would sing – mom called that a ‘grand memory’.

 

When she was 12 her dad finally bought a house, a condemned house that they fixed up and stayed in for years - I remember that house well.

 

Mom went to Timken High School and after graduating she got a job at the local phone company – that's when she met my dad. Dad worked at a local gas station, and mom would buy only 50 cents worth of gas so she could come back for more.

 

They started dating, and fell in love, then eventually got married. Dad went to Ohio State where he studied engineering, and mom worked to put him through school. After dad graduated they moved out to CA where they bought a house in Cupertino where mom lived for 50+ years.

 

After dad passed in 2008, mom decided to “get on with it”, and so she did.

 

Mom’s most important role was parenting us rambunctious kids. After Benny passed away in 1982, mom astounded me with her ability to carry on. She provided us kids with a wonderful childhood.

 

She was so proud of her grandkids, Brody and Landon, that she just had to move to LA to be close to them. Dyana and I, and the boys we're so happy and grateful to have had so much time to spend with her over the last 1.5 years.

 

Mom had many great friends over the years, and always felt so fortunate to have us kids. She was the most sincerely grateful person I have ever known. She was a carefree and ultra positive woman who loved garage sales, art, gardening, painting, and collecting small treasures that she’d decorate her home with. But she loved people the most, and getting to know them and their stories would just light her up.

 

She was a devoted wife, wonderful mother, and amazing grandmother to Brody & Landon.

We miss you mom, everyday.