Janice Todosciuk

When reflecting on the life of Janice Todosciuk, words such as giving, content, and loving are the recurring melody throughout her life’s song. She had a joy for life that was impossible to miss and a heart that beat to greatly enrich the lives of those around her. As mothers go, Janice was second to none, although she just may have said that becoming a grandmother many times over was the best part of being a mother. Although she traveled the world over, there was nothing of greater importance to Janice than her unwavering faith, her precious family, and her lifelong friends. The lives of so many will never be the same without Janice here, but the footprints she leaves behind will remain deeply embedded in the sands of time for generations to come.

Life in the 1930s was anything but easy as the Great Depression left countless Americans without work, and to make matters worse a devastating drought blanketed our nation’s heartland as well. Despite the trials around them, an active family from St. Johns, Michigan, was filled with unspeakable joy to welcome a baby girl into their hearts and home on June 2, 1935. Janice May was the youngest of three children born to her parents, Harry Woodworth and Jeanette Alice (Stevens) Rosekrans, and she was raised alongside her two brothers, Carl and Keith, who were much older than she was. Her father worked hard as a struggling farmer while her mother taught school early on.

In many ways Janice experienced a childhood that was fairly common for the youth of her generation. She attended Marshall School, a one-room schoolhouse during her earliest years, where she made friends with ease. Many of these girls became Janice’s lifelong friends. Her high school years found her at Rodney B. Wilson High School where she excelled in her studies. It comes as no surprise that Janice was also quite the social butterfly who loved going to the movies with her friends. She enjoyed her senior class trip to Washington, D. C., chronicling much of the experience from behind the lens of her camera. Janice also worked some at the Salt Box Restaurant north of town.

After graduating from high school in 1953, Janice began working at General Telephone where she made great friends. She used some of her earnings to buy a brand new white 1956 Plymouth, and she also continued to enjoy spending time with her friends.

Life was forever changed for Janice when she met the man with whom she would write a love story that would span more than 50 years. He was an Army buddy of her best friend’s boyfriend, and his name was Frank Todosciuk. Janice and Frank were set up on a blind date, and from the moment he saw her it was love at first sight for Frank. They began dating in September and were already talking about marriage by October. A young student in Chicago, Frank couldn’t afford to buy his sweetheart a ring at the time, but they later picked one out. Deeply in love, they were married on March 29, 1958, at Greenbush Methodist Church in St. Johns.

The newlyweds spent about one year living in Chicago, but they soon moved to Janice’s hometown of St. Johns. At first Janice went back to work at GTE, but she later became a stay at home mother to their three wonderful children: Annette, Harry, and Andy. She was a great mother who was actively involved in the lives of her children. Janice was always taking her kids here or there for an adventure, and she supported them in whatever their interests were. She served as a den mother and worked both of her sons all the way through to becoming Eagle Scouts. Janice also seamlessly kept their home running while Frank focused his attention on their business, Research Tool in Ovid.

Daily life in the Todosciuk home was always a bustle of activity. Janice kept busy canning just about everything from her parents’ garden, and her family knew they better not ever be late for dinner. When their children were growing up Janice and Frank traveled all over the country for three or four weeks each year with their kids camped out in the back of a capped pick-up truck with a couch and an oil heater. As a mother Janice was more strict with Annette than she was with her sons, but anyone who broke the rules always got her going. She was aggressively involved in helping her kids sell subscriptions, sometimes helping them earn great prizes like bikes. Janice always just seemed to do whatever needed to be done, which was a great life lesson that her children were so thankful to have been taught.

Although her main focus was always on her family, Janice enjoyed so many things throughout her life. She got into selling Avon products, which took her all over the area for various events. Janice was an avid photographer who led the photography program through the local 4-H for a time, and she also loved spending time out in her flower gardens and making bouquets for her home and the homes of many others as well. She loved to read Harlequin romance novels, and all who knew Janice were well aware of her love for the color purple. Whenever she was able, she cooked for local shut-ins, often her tasty chicken soup. She was thrilled to be a grandmother, and she adored all of her grandchildren the same whether those related to her by blood or not.

Later in life Janice and Frank purchased a place at Saddlebag Lake Resort in Florida, and they also traveled the world during their retirement years. Their travels took them throughout Europe, but Janice’s favorite destinations were Alaska and Hawaii.

We will miss Janice Todosciuk for her breathtaking flower arrangements, her selfless acts of service to others, and her unending love for everyone within her reach, but most of all we will miss the way she was there for us in whatever we needed. Her zest for life was contagious, and her absence will be deeply felt.

Janice Todosciuk died on January 7, 2012. Janice’s family includes her husband, Frank; her daughter, Annette (Rich) Snyder; sons, Harry (Linda) Todosciuk and Andy (Sunday) Todosciuk; grandchildren, Jena Mae (Jeffrey) Rewerts, Lurah and Jordynn Todosciuk and Andrew (AJ) Todosciuk; Rich’s children, Sherry Snyder, Rick (Cindy) Snyder and Mike Snyder; Sunday’s daughters, Kristin and Jamie Griffith; great-grandchildren, Jadynn and Jackson Rewerts, Brandy Martinez, Casey Spooner, Becky and Jake Snyder and Michael and Blake Snyder; great-great-grandchildren, Adrian and Madilynn Martinez, Logan Forbes and Kendal Spooner; sisters-in-law, Margaret and Dorothy Rosekrans and many nieces and nephews. Along with her parents, Janice was preceded by her brothers, Carl and Keith Rosekrans. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at Osgood Funeral Home in St. Johns with Pastor Keith Whipple officiating, burial will follow at Eureka Cemetery. The family will receive friends 2-8 p.m. Tuesday also at the funeral home. Memorials may be expressed to Eureka Cemetery Flower Fund or to the Eureka Christian Church. To learn more about Janice, visit her personal webpage at www.lifestorynet.com/memories/76931.