Janet was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. As the younger child in the family, she admits she was a bit of a dare devil. She and her sibling liked to roller skate down “fire hill” and other big hills in the city! It was a happy childhood and Janet was a good student.
After earning her nursing degree from Temple University, Janet met her husband Robert, a Navy test pilot (who was roommates with astronaut Ken Mattingly!), at the 10th Presbyterian Church.
The two traveled all over the United States with his job. They lived in Texas and California among other states, and during that time welcomed 4 children in 5 years: Kim, Dawn, Scott and Paul.
Tragically, Robert died young at the age of 33 while testing an aircraft. At that point Janet saw an advertisement for a camp nurse at Camp Good News in Sandwich and decided to pack the family up and move to Cape Cod. They were just planning on visiting for the summer, but fell in love with the community.
The family lived in Barnstable Village on Route 6A right by the beach, and relished engaging in all of the water activities, from sailing to water skiing. Janet enjoyed gardening and raising farm animals, including ducks and pigs and bringing the kids sledding and skating on the cranberry bogs.
The children all attended Stoney Brook, a private preparatory school in New York. Of all of her life’s accomplishments, Janet says she is most proud of sending her children to the school, as well as putting them all through college as a single mom.
As the kids grew up, married and had children of their own, Janet recalls wonderful family memories of big Thanksgiving gatherings in her barn. They would set up 6 big tables and have as many as 30 guests.
When asked how people would describe her in her younger years Janet said, “They would probably say I could do anything.” Her son Scott agreed. He said that his mom was very resourceful and managed to do a lot with very little. “She was a great scratch cook!” he said. Janet said her favorite thing to make was spaghetti.
When asked if she ever remarried Janet said, “When you have one great love, you don’t want to accept anything less than that.”
So, Janet lived her life as a hard-working single mom, secure in the knowledge that she had been well-loved by her husband and blessed with her children whom she raised beautifully.
