Janice Marie was born on March 24, 1937, to Robert Oliver and Alice Mae (Seip) Elmore at the Winnebago Hospital. Janice was the eighth child of ten, and the only baby born in a hospital. She attended country school and graduated from Blue Earth High School in 1955. Following high school, she worked at First National Bank.

She met her husband and the father of her children, Roger Duane DeBoer, in Blue Earth. They were married on Sept. 30, 1960, at Zion Lutheran Church in Rake, Iowa. They resided in Blue Earth, Minn., where their three daughters were born and raised. Janice and Roger made a happy home for their family, with Roger working for Green Giant as a mechanic, and Janice was a full-time homemaker. Though Roger passed away in 1973 after only 12 years of marriage, their time together was filled with love, devotion, and pride in the life they created.

Following her husband’s untimely passing, Janice continued to live in Blue Earth, where she raised her three daughters as a single mother. She was endlessly proud of her daughters’ accomplishments as they grew into adults. In 1989 Harold Baumann became a loving and caring partner in her life for the next 26 years. Janice and Harold enjoyed golfing, bowling, and playing cards and board games together. Around this time Janice was also able to share her love and care for her daughters’ husbands as they joined the family, and then her four grandchildren, on whom she doted endlessly. After Harold’s passing in 2015, Janice moved from her home on First Street in Blue Earth to New Life Manor in Blue Earth, where she resided until her death.

Janice’s family has countless beautiful memories of her, such as her rice Krispie treats, sense of humor, holiday spreads, ability to invent a game or activity in any situation, gifts of hand-embroidered dish towels, and many hilarious late-night games of Skunk, Go Fish, poker, and Mexican Train Game. Most of all, however, she will be remembered for how fiercely she loved her family.

She was preceded in death by her parents: Robert and Alice Elmore; her husband Roger; her partner Harold Baumann; in-laws Ubbe and Emma (Sabin) DeBoer and siblings: Donald, Charlotte Robb, A. Lorraine Chaffee, Elaine Elmore, Mervin, Joyce Farrow, and Maurice.

Janice is survived by her children: Gloria (Joel West) of Osceola, Wis.; Jane Schreiner of Fairmont, Minn.; and Sandy (Kevin Guritz) of Fairmont, Minn.; grandchildren: Josette West (fiancé Abdi Iftin)of Portland, Maine; Elizabeth West (A.J. Meadows) of St. Croix Falls, Wis.; Wyatt Guritz of Fairmont, Minn.; and Calvin Guritz (Fiancé Alexis Newville), of Mankato, Minn.; a sister Beverly Alfson of Winnebago, Minn.; a brother, Laverne Elmore of Fairmont, Minn.; two sisters-in-law, Mary Pratt of St. Louis Park, Minn. and Marge Elmore of Blue Earth, Minn.; as well as many, many wonderful nieces and nephews.

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]