Janice Eileen Spencer was born on May 30, 1938 at he hospital in Aberdeen, South Dakota to Irvin Spencer and Kathleen Elma (Daly) Spencer. Her first memory is driving from one farm to another, with dogs in the front and her mom in the back. They were moving.
Her father Irvin raised animals and farmed for a living in Columbia, South Dakota. He had a quarter of land he rented from John Bachelor. He farmed and raised 6-8 pigs, about 30 ewes, 30 cows, and chickens. There was a big chicken coop. He would bring a one ton Chevy truck full of eggs to Aberdeen to sell to Taylor Hatchery, and later to Kesslers.
Her mother worked ‘like the devil’ … cooked, cleaned, sewed, cleaned chickens, baked, etc. There wasn’t a lot to do on the farm… for fun, Janice would make houses and mud pies with her cousin Peggy and go to 4-H meetings. The family went on vacations to the Black Hills, Wall Drug, Hot Springs, and the Hill City Zoo.
Her grandpa Charles Daly farmed and raised cattle as well. He lived one mile north of them on Daly Corners. They would go back and forth with them often, especially holidays. She would walk, or her mother would take her in a ’42 Chevy. Her grandpa James Spencer lived by Houghton and farmed. They did not visit her Spencer grandparents (her mother didn’t get along with them, so they never went), but they would visit the Dalys every three weeks or so.
Larry Holds Baby Janice
She played with her cousins, Peggy and Jerry Daly. Peggy lived four miles west, and they got to play about twice a week. Jerry lived ten miles west of Columbia, and they didn’t play till they were older. The family took trips to the Black Hills. She remembers Richie buying a tom tom there.
She would occasionally do work for her grandfather’s sweet second wife Agnes. Janice would clean house, wash the separator, wash dishes and clothes when she was about 12-14 years old. It was a totally different world. Everyone worked hard. She never hugged her parents. She went to school at Daly Corners, which was a two-room schoolhouse with a basement. They had box socials, Christmas programs, etc. They would eat sack lunches in the basement. Her dad took them to school, and they walked home. She was excellent at spelling and bad at history. The older kids were nice to the little kids…She started with only two in her class, and by high school there were 14.
When they were kids, she and her brothers never went without, but all food was grown/raised on the farm. The family had money when she was in high school–her father was a successful farmer. He wore bib overalls, chambray shirts, long underwear, and a straw hat. He wore khaki work pants under bibs and took bibs off on the porch when he came inside. He was a quiet man. Her mother wore cotton dresses, floral or printed, a cotton cobbler apron, nylons, and oxfords. She would always yell at the dogs “Here, here!”
Larry, Janice, and Richie
On Mondays after school she had to make the three beds upstairs with clean sheets. She did the dishes and cleaned always.
Janice, Larry, and Richie
Janice and Larry
Janice and Friends
She and her mother and brothers went to Catholic Church in Columbia almost every Sunday (her father was not Catholic and didn’t go to church). She would wear the one dress she had, and her mother would wear a hat (all the women did). Her mother sewed the kids’ clothes.
Janice was close with her brothers Lawrence (Larry) and Richard (Richie). They lived close to her aunt and uncle Myrtis and John Daly, and the families did a lot of things together. She also lived a mile from her Grandpa Daly. Grandma Daly died before Janice was born. She went back and forth to Grandpa Daly’s house a lot. Every year for holidays, they got together with the Dalys.
Janice Spencer, Peggy Daly, Frank Daly, and Richie Spencer
“My Grandma Daly died when my mother was eight years old, so my mother didn’t even remember her mother. We saw Grandpa Daly all the time. I didn’t know much about my Grandma and Grandpa Spencer. We used to see them once in a while, but not like the Dalys, because the Spencers lived further away than the Dalys, who were a mile away from us.
Larry, Janice, and Richie
Larry and Janice
Larry, Janice, and Richie
Larry, Janice, and Richie
On the 4th of July, Dick Daly shot fireworks every year. Later they would go to Columbia Park for fireworks. They always hosted Thanksgiving at her house–her uncle John (Daly) and aunt Myrtis, grandpa Charles Daly and his wife Agnes, Donny, Lute and kids would come. Christmas was at her grandpa Daly and Agnes’s house. They had turkey and presents at home. They didn’t get a lot of presents, but they were never disappointed.
Dean Daly, Janice, and Richie
“The radio was in the living room and it looked like an old-fashioned radio. We listened to the Lone Ranger and Fibber McGee and Molly.”
Larry, Richie, and Janice
I grew up in a two-story house, and the first color I can remember it being was white with dark green trim. My bedroom was upstairs at the top of the stairs. Larry and Richie had to go through my bedroom to get to their room, and I didn’t like that, but that’s the way the house was situated. There was a white chenille bedspread, linoleum floor, white sheer criss cross curtains, and the closet had a curtain. The window looked over the driveway–there was a garden and a burning barrel on the other side of the drive.
Janice and Richie
Janice and Denny Daly
She remembers loving the movies as a little girl: “The best movie I saw when Lassie Come Home. I watched it in the theatre in Hecla. I liked dogs and it was real scary. You know how Lassie got in trouble all the time? I’d hide my eyes whenever Lassie was in big trouble. My favorite Walt Disney movie was The Yearling. I like little deer. The Sound of Music is my favorite movie of all time. I liked the music and I liked Julie Andrews. The Wizard of Oz would be on one Sunday of every year from 5 to 8, and the Newmans and Johnsons parents would sit at the table, playing cards and eating, while the kids watched on the floor.”
Janice – 1946
The basement in the house was scary. Especially when a national murderer was loose. She was afraid to go outside and shake the tablecloth after supper. Spring in Columbia was beautiful–lilacs and apple blossoms. She took swimming lessons at the YMCA but never really learned, and she went to the lake in high school with friends. Her birthday was on Memorial Day weekend, so they would have a big picnic at Richmond Lake. She was in 4H and basketball, and rarely got in trouble. If she did, she blamed it on her brothers. They played outside in the summer, and in the winter the cold didn’t slow them down. Friends and relatives came over every other weekend for card parties.
Janice – 1946
There wasn’t much music in the house…they listened to radio and Victrola sometimes. They listened to “Fibber McGee & Molly,” “Lone Ranger,” Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, and Rosemary Clooney on the radio.
“I moved there when I was three and was married when I was 18, so I lived there 15 years The window in my bedroom looked out on the garden. When I was about 12 years old I got a bedroom set that was blonde wood, and it had a bed with a headboard and a chest of drawers and then a dresser with a mirror on it. When I was in my room I was either sleeping or picking up all the clothes off the floor so I could see it.
Richie, Larry, Janice
Janice, Richie, Larry
In high school, she was editor of the school annual, class officer, Carnival Queen, and on homecoming court. She went to all five of her proms. She and her friends would hang out in a hotel, in a back room. The hotel had a dance floor and a nickelodeon. She wore rolled up jeans with a cotton blouse, below-knee straight skirts, white socks, saddles shoes, round-neck sweaters with attached collar or scarf. She remembers a particular outfit — red jeans and a gold knit shirt. She had six close friends in her class and would hang out with the seniors from Hecla. She occasionally skipped school and got caught. Her dad had to meet with the superintendent. Her (future sister-in-law) Mary Johnson was with her–they went to Aberdeen to the movies.
Capitol Movie Theater – Aberdeen, SD
Sally Lamport (friend) and Janice Before Prom
Sometimes my mom would have ten or twelve men for dinner. There was a lot of work to be done back then. We had a hired man J.T. Cook. His parents were dead, and his mom and my mom were cousins. We’d ride in a hay wagon with him and we thought he could sing really good. He was a good looking man.
She and her mother would go in to Aberdeen on giant shopping sprees from time to time–Sears, Montgomery Wards, Penneys, fabric stores), and they would go out to eat in Aberdeen at Virginia Cafe and Ranch Cafe.
Virginia Cafe – Aberdeen, SD
Montgomery Ward – Downtown Aberdeen, SD
Margie Buntrock and Arlene Spencer (Janice’s sister-in law)
School Dance 1955
Janice and Dennis Dennert at the Prom
Janice and Arlene Spencer
One time I stayed home from school til the first recess to help hang all the clothes on the line. You can imagine all the work my mother had to do with twelve men for dinner. John Daly and my dad did all their farming together, and he and a bunch of other guys would come over for dinner. It was always a big meal with meat and potatoes, and then at four o’clock they’d have a lunch and take it to the field, and it would be sandwiches and cake and doughnuts. They worked together so that they could buy their machinery together. They’d each pay half. When they worked in the field, it would be about 9:00 or 9:30 when they would come in.
Deanna Dennert and Janice
When they did wash, they would have to heat the water on the stove, and dump the water into the washing machine. A wash machine was a round tub and on the top of it was a ringer, and you’d put your clothes through the ringer, and then you’d put the clothes in the rinsing tub, and then ring them out again, and then try to get the stiff things hung on the clothesline. Then, you’d have to iron a lot more because they were a lot more wrinkled. They would use that water for about eight loads, and by the time we got done with that eighth load, it was so dirty and murky from all those farm clothes. Then we’d have to drain the water out into pails and dump them out. Sometimes we’d dump the water onto the garden. We were never short of water, but it wasn’t running water. We had a pail of water beside the sink with a big metal dipper in it, and when you wanted a drink of water, you’d use the dipper. When you did dishes, you heated up water on the cookstove.
Margie Buntrock and Janice
Arlene Spencer and Janice
We used to walk home from school. I used to hate to go home from school on Mondays and make all three big beds upstairs. We’d do the laundry Mondays and I’d hang the clothes out on the clothesline. After school we’d take all the sheets off the line and make the beds upstairs. My mother didn’t go upstairs often.
Janice at Physics Class
When I learned how to drive, I drove a truck with a box on it that you could hardly see behind in the field. When they combine, they make rounds around the field, and they’d get up on the combine and wave me over for them to dump their wheat or oats into the truck, and I would drive over to the combine when they waved. I would sit in the middle of the field and wait for their signal, but while I was waiting, I didn’t have anything to do. One time I was practicing backing up and parking while I was waiting, and I almost backed into the combine. I wasn’t too popular that day.”
Janice and Arlie Hanson
The best night of high school for her was when she got Carnival Queen. There was a big carnival at high school–booths, food, etc… All the adults and students that came voted and she won. She was wearing a long gray skirt and a purple sweater with a lace collar.
She got along well with her parents and was rarely in trouble. The Depression affected the Spencer family a lot; they didn’t have much money. She remembers her dad wearing blue overalls and light blue Chambray shirt with a hat (he always had cap of some kind), and her mom wearing print cotton dress with a cotton apron. Her parents were happy as she remembers them. “We had real tough times. We didn’t have much money. We had plenty to eat since we lived on a farm. From the time that I can remember they drove. I can remember when we moved. I was three years old and they had a car, so they did have a car from the time I was born.”
Larry, Irvin, Richie, Janice at Dinner
“My family ate in the dining room. It was off of the kitchen and the living room, and there was plenty of light in the room. I got my mother’s silverware when she died, and I gave the silverware to your mother.
My house was pretty quiet. The attic scared me because there was no floor in it. We had a radio and we had a record player and we had a piano. My mom listened to popular music. When we went to Aberdeen to shop, it was quite a big day when we could buy a new record.
The phones we had in those days were party line, and when your phone rang it rang into everyone else’s house, so you knew when they got a phone call too. Some of the old women without anything else to do would listen to everyone’s calls. That was called rubbering. Everyone had a different ring – ours was a long, two shorts, and a long. Some were a long and three shorts, and some were two longs and a short… When the phone would start ringing, you wouldn’t naturallly jump up and run to the phone like you would do; you would have to wait to see whose ring it was.
Mom and Dad would go to dances at Daly corners just north of where Steve Daly’s building is now, and they would dance on a big wood floor out in the open. My parents read the Saturday Evening Post, Life, and the Dakota Farmer. I don’t know how Grandma Spencer got into the seed art for sure, but it started with her making a few seed pictures, and Irvin would get her some seed, and Richie would bring her the boards. She had her pictures on display at the library one time. I never knew of anyone else who made the seed pictures. She sold a lot of them, and gave a lot of them away as presents.
Janice & Friends Deanna Dennert and Peggy Daly – 1950s Prom (Slide by Janice’s Uncle John Daly)
Once we went to town on a Saturday afternoon, and while we were in town the wind came up. On the way home there were about 5 or 6 cars up ahead, and the men would have to get out and shovel pathways for their cars.”
She grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone, so she knew her future husband Dean long before they dated:
“Grandpa Johnson’s sister was married to Grandma Spencer’s brother, and they all lived on the farming area there, so everybody knew everybody there in Columbia. Grandpa has two sisters and I ran around with his sister Mary Lou, and when his sister Ruth married my uncle, they just lived a mile from your house and when they started having babies, then I started helping and babysitting, and when Ruth went to her parents, she’d pick me up to help with the kids, and since I knew Mary and didn’t have anything to do and no one my age to play with, I would go with.
She was looking for help and I was looking for something to do. When I was about a junior in high school, Grandpa’s brother was the custodian at the school, and Grandpa would come up to the school, and I guess he liked the looks of me, and we started dating. We went to car races and we went to movies and a couple of times we went to the lake on Sunday with Mary (his sister) and her husband. We went with other couples.
Dean and Janice Johnson, Doreen Wright and Jerry Dell
Back Row: Mary Prunty, Janice, Betty Prunty, Mary Johnson. Richie Spencer and Kenny Daly in Foreground
One year we went to the State Fair with another couple. I got my engagement ring on Friday the 13th of January in 1956, and I guess that’s when we decided to get married. We were at his parents house when he gave me my diamond. Then we went to his sister’s house (after a basketball game) and showed them my ring. The next night we went to Aberdeen to the South Dakota Snow Queen contest and I got to show a lot of people my ring.”
Janice and Dean were married in Columbia, South Dakota on June 1, 1956. They had four children, Teresa (Terri) Lynn Johnson (March 22, 1957), Alan Dean Johnson (April 1, 1958) Ralph Gordon Johnson (May 9, 1959), and Brenda Lee Johnson (December 30, 1961).
Janice got a job as the May Overby Elementary School Lunch Program Supervisor.
Bride Mary (Johnson) Weistmantel, Attendant, and Janice
She remembers her first big vacation with Dean: “We drove to Sioux Falls and stayed overnight with the Hansons. Then, we went to the airport in the morning and flew to Florida. I got sick on the plane on the way there. I had never been on a plane before. Then, we went to Florida and it was very hot and humid. We went to the beach to a picnic. We went to a party at night. It was Grandpa’s birthday and they sang Happy Birthday to him. We went to Cape Coral, Florida. We went to listen to a sale’s pitch about buying land there. We flew back to Sioux Falls and we were home.”
Her son, Ralph (Gordon) remembers: “When we were kids at the farm playing or hunting on the weekend, Mom would be in the house helping Grandma. She would help clean up the house and wash clothes, windows, or whatever else needed cleaning, because Grandma couldn’t get around very good.
Fran Newman With Janice
When we were young I looked forward to Saturday night supper. Most of the time we had hamburgers, french fries and malts. Mom made the best malts and fries, way better than a fast food joint.”
Janice and Terri – late 1970s
Janice and (Pregnant) Terri
(Pregnant) Terri and Janice in Centerville
Janice and Dean With Grandson David
Janice With David
For Janice’s 65th birthday, her daughter Terri compiled stories from her closest friends:
Janice and I have shared our children for 25 years and our wonderful grandsons for 22. They’re the greatest. Janice raised a daughter Terri who absorbed her “queen of clean” outlook. They work well together, and I’d eat off the floor at either one’s house. (Of course, I’ve been known to eat off the floor whenever the occasion arises, but I’d be safe eating off theirs).
Janice and Grandson David
Twenty years ago our husbands left Janice and me in a bar in Vermillion while they looked for Hugh, who was celebrating his birthday elsewhere. I don’t visit bars often, and I had a great time. I think Janice did too, but I don’t remember all the details. We should do it again now that Janice is of age.
Sixty-five is a great age. Janice will look back at 65 and think, “Wasn’t it great to be so young.” Congratulations to eh AQC.
–LaRae Carlson, Reporter
Janice and Dean With Grandson David
Hugo Carlson, Janice (Spencer) Johnson, Craig Carlson, LaRae (Robertson) Carlson, David Carlson, Teresa (Johnson) Carlson, and Dean Johnson – 1982
One year before coing home at Christmas, I had called Mom to tell her I had gotten a terrible haircut. The thing that was the worst was the bangs. The stylist referred to them as “baby bangs” – they were really quite similar to the “home trims” Mom gave Terri and I!! (In other words—VERY short and ugly!)
As I arrived at the HUGE airport in Aberdeen, along with the twenty other passengers on the flight, I was shocked to see Mom hugging some other girl! I guess it didn’t matter what hair looked like because she couldn’t even remember what I looked like!
Love you anyway, Brenda
Dean and Janice With Grandson David
To The Editor:
This is probably one of the hardest assignments I have had. When you have known the “Queen of Clean” as long as I have, it is difficult to pick a memory or two to write about because there are many. I could write a book! We go way back to 1957 and I can only say that we have had many good times over the years. We have been there for each other during the good times and the not-so-good. There have been good trips, conversations, tears, laughs. The “Queen” is a dear and forever friend, and I want to wish her the happiest birthday there can be and to tell her that reaching the big 65 has its advantages.
So happy birthday “Queenie” from your OLDER friend, Fran Newman
Fran Newman and Janice
Fran remembers the time we were in Wisconsin and we bought the big straw hats and hid them in the trunk thinking we would surprise Dean and Bud the next day and maybe embarrass them. The next morning our little joke backfired as it was raining pitchforks. I think Janice made a wall hanging with her hat and my granddaughter, Annie, got my hat to play house with.
How about the time we were in Grand Forks and we shopped until we dropped. And you almost did. I drug you and would go get the packages, drag you, go get the packages, and on it went until we finally got to the motel where I could holler for help. HA… It wasn’t that bad, but almost! Another good time.
I met Janice when Arlene Spencer and I were having a rummage sale on South Sixth Street. Janice came to see if we had a hat and a black dress for her as one of the people on her favorite soap operas had died and she wanted to be dressed right for the funeral. I decided right then she would be a very good and concerned friend.
Shortly after that we decided to start a bridge club. I did not know how to play so she was one of my teachers. We have played for many years. Lots of laughs, good food, and outings. Janice and I were also Girl Scout leaders. What fun with weekly meetings and camping. I do think we should have gotten the badge instead of the girls.
Happy Birthday Janice you are finally as old as I am
Olive
Janice and I have worked together on womens projects at Plymouth Congregational Church for over 30 years. We have records back to 1971 with details of bazaar preparations for coffee, rolls, and pie. There is no written record to tell how many luncheons we have planned, decorated, and served to our church members and their friends, but they also date back many years. Janice loves the decorating. We have spent hours on favors, nut cups, and centerpieces. The fact that we work so well together is an accomplishment in itself. We look forward to many more of these events.
Miriam
Dean, Corey Carlson, Janice, David Carlson, and Adrianne (Kroepsch) Carlson
Some of my best memories with Janice were when we went camping the kids all had a great time and we could just sit back and relax, also we had a lot of fun at wedding dances. We might even dance in those days…we have had many good times…Janice you are a good friend and I wish you a Happy 65th Birthday and many more.
Eileen
Dean, Terri, and Janice
Janice Johnson third cousin twice removed from former President Charlotte M. Bohling area code 57401 was elected in a close race as the New President for G.O.D. Club for 2003. It’s a big undertaking but with much help from former President Charlotte M. Bohling (twice removed third cousin) area code 57401 she’ll be an outstanding President. Her counterpart Fran Newman area code 57401 and Production Manager Florence Krege area code 57433 will get much help from former Sec. Myrna Linder area code 58436 and Production Manager Beverly Shaw area code 57401. Help and advice will be available as long as it’s not serious. Janice has been a big asset to our club. Good Luck and Happy Birthday Cuz!
Charlotte
Janice and Granddaughter, Kayla
Janice Johnson will take over her duties as Pres. Of the G.O.D. Club (not Government Official Day) but Goof Off Day Club, this Fall with Fran Newman as Sec. and Florence Krege as Production Manager. The past year Johnson has been an asset to the club with her interesting stories and comic strip. She specialized in bringing out the hidden color in pictures used to make Christmas and Birthday cards for 4 nursing homes in Aberdeen, S.D. Happy Birthday & Good Luck in your new job!
Beverly Shaw, Past Production Manager or Second Cousin Removed.
Many years ago, Janice, Helen, and I were members of TOPS—(Take Off Pounds SENSIBLY). We would do the best we could all week, but on the morning of our Wednesday evening meetings, I would run down the street to Janice’s house, where she would supply me with one of her “water” pills. I would go to the bathroom all day, and feel awful by the time of the meeting, but we all lost a pound or two. After we weighed in, the three of us would head for A&W, where we ordered hamburgers and fries with our root beer! A reputable source has confirmed that Janice still takes her “medicine” before weighing in at her annual physicals.
Janice and Dean With Daughter Terri
I think I first met Janice when her dog, Snickers, had puppies 35 years ago. Helen had been babysitting Tracy, and they went down to see the puppies, or “monkeys” as Tracy called them. I walked down with the kids to see the puppies and met Janice. We have been the best of friends ever since.
Janice and Grandson, Nick
In addition to water pills, Janice was a heavy user of Alka Seltzer. On a camping trip to Roy Lake one weekend, I was feeling very sick. “Dr.” Janice convinced me to try her Alka Seltzer, and I threw up for the rest of the day!
We started a bridge group that had eight members—four who knew how to play, and four who were just along for the food and fun! I think that we are all at the same level today!
Janice and I were cheap dates for our husbands. We drank a bottle of champagne the night Dean and Janice helped us pack up for our move to Indiana. After finishing the first bottle, Dean and Rollie left to get another one. When they returned, Janice and I were out cold on the sofa, so they just sat and watched us sleep! Wild times!!
And how about the time we put the fake nails on? I’m afraid I don’t remember all the details, but if Janice doesn’t, we know she will have it recorded in her faithful diaries!
Kay Bunn, Reporter
I met Janice when I returned to Columbia High School to finish my senior year. She was a sophomore and I liked her immediately. Little did I know in a couple of years she would be my sister-in-law. They say you can choose your friends, but not your relatives. I hit the jackpot in both cases.
We’ve had so many good times together and never any cross words that I can remember. But then I can’t remember much these days!
We had eight kids in six years. Holidays were a zoo, but always fun. We often talk about how we thought we were so good to Kathleen—showing up for Sunday dinners with kids and dogs and messes!
We have had so much fun on many travels together—beginning with Larry’s and my honeymoon! Our recent trips with our daughters (AKA the Leopard Skin Ladies) have been a riot. On a trip to San Francisco Janice showed up with a Depends bag (full of her underwear)—assuming we might laugh until we wet our pants! We didn’t let her down!
And all our shopping excursions…Janice once decided she couldn’t go on without a coffee break because she was so dry she “couldn’t even spit.” When she and Debbie didn’t come into the restaurant, we went back and found them laughing hysterically next to the car, where Janice had been showing Debbie she was actually “too dry to spit!” No need for further explanation!
I’ve been pouting for weeks that I can’t be there for the birthday party. I’m sure I will miss a great time with many laughs, but hop to get to see everybody this fall.
Love, Arlene (Spencer)
Remember the time we babysat at Ruth and Arty’s? We thought we were so old and mature—until we heard a strange noise! We ended up sitting on the end of the crib until Arty and Ruth came home so no one would get the kids! (Funny we didn’t leave them and run down to your folks’s houses!)
Mary (Johnson) Weismantel
I have recently been thinking of the bridge group started by Janice, Arlene, Helen, and Doris. Joining them to make two tables were Lois, Olive, Kay, and June.
We started playing in the late 1960s into the early 1990s. I am not remembering exact dates. We had many fun times, even managed to learn and play bridge between all our talking.
When Kay and Lois left the group Myrna and Eileen joined us. We had many other substitutes through the years.
Sincerely, June White
My special memories with Janice are many. The times that four of us girls from the “real bridge club” would take road trips. We would spend time shopping. Then check into a motel room to play bridge, eat, chat, laugh, and snack until the wee hours of the morning. After a couple hours of sleep we would go out for breakfast. If there was time before we checked out we would play some more hands of bridge. Then journey back to Aberdeen.
I can’t think of a particular humorous story, but I know there are many. The past few years Archie and I have gone to Norse Hostfest in Minot, N.D. until Janice with Janice and Dean. The time Janice lost her ticket to the Main Attraction show we were “crawling” on the floor looking for it. We didn’t find it, but they let us in anyway. We decided we wanted a hot dog. We inquired about where the hot dog stand was, and was told we were at a Scandinavian Festival. We stepped outside the Copenhagen building where Charlie Pride was coming onstage. We didn’t have our tickets with us so we had to persuade the door lady to let us back in. Also, there’s lots of “humor” and laughter during Happy Hour back in our room at the motel.
Helen Daly
Sixty-five years as cousins, once removed, schoolmates, and friends forever. Janice and I have shared many fun and funny times. We’ve travled—some…We once took the last train out of Aberdeen to Minneapolis. Then we motored to Mitchell and Sioux Falls to swoon over Eddy Arnold. Eddy was out idol until Janice’s mother saw him on TV and said he had bad teeth. Janice didn’t even know he had teeth. The “cattle call” is always just one breath away.
Birthday parties for our children were a big hit for the Moms. Hours of visiting! This winter Janice and I became a part of an elite group known as the G.O. Ladies. Our groups meets to drink coffee, to work on projects, to eat lunch, to swap recipes, to taste goodies, to exchange ideas, to sample desserts, and to solve worldly problems. Janice’s diligent research on relationships has proven we are all sisters and the Family Circle comic strip has become a reality.
Grandson David With Janice and Dean
Happy Birthday Queen of Clean…May you dust and scrub for years to come, until you’ve swept up the last and final crumb!
Janice, you are a true friend…
Myrna Linder (May 30, 2003)
I have never seen Janice laugh as hard as she did the night we celebrated her 50th birthday. Bud and Fran and Bob and I had gone with them and Janice to Helen’s California Kitchen for dinner. We had made arrangements for a young man dressed as a bunny to come to the restaurant carrying balloons and singing happy birthday to her.
Janice and Great-Granddaughter Kinsley
He not only serenaded her, but sat on her lap hugging her. Of course, everyone dining there that night had a good laugh at her embarrassment.
She laughed so hard we were worried about her physical well-being. The joke was really on us. The year was 1987 and she was only 49!
Miriam
Happy Birthday Janice…
Back in the late 50s the “IN” place to live in Aberdeen was the “huts” at Northern State; and I was privileged to live right across from Janice, who then was training to be the “Queen of Clean.”
We sponge-painted our floors and hooked our curtains back to the windows at the top and the bottom, after washing them, so they didn’t hang away from our rounded walls. When our washers went into the spin cycle, we had our own exercise workout machine. We had to sit on it so it wouldn’t walk away on the uneven floors. But; we had lots good times there! One thing Janice and I still occasionally mention is the letter I wrote to her while she was in the hospital delivering Alan. I wrote it as if Terri was reporting how I was taking care of her.
Acutally, Janice was taking a chance since at that time I had very little experience babysitting. But, we made it & Terri lived thru it to put on this nice party for her mom.
Thanks!
Jean
Christmas 2017:
