Janice Louise McNair, age 67, died peacefully in her sleep on May 26, 2011 after a mercifully brief battle with uterine cancer. Jan was born in Longview, Washington on January 3, 1944 to John and Lucille McNair. In 1954 the family, which by now included her brother Bill, moved to Marysville, Washington. Jan graduated from Marysville High School in 1962 and later completed a two year college degree. Until she retired she worked at a number of secretarial/clerical positions for various companies and government agencies. In her youth Jan was an avid roller skater and competed in many local and state tournaments.
Throughout her life Jan was active in the Episcopal Church. Her participation as an adult started with St. Phillips in Marysville, followed by St.kk John the Baptist in West Seattle, then Trinity Episcopal Church in Seattle, and finally Christ Episcopal Church in Seattle. She was also very active in the Daughters of the King for a number of years. Jan was a driving force in the founding of the Mary & Martha Chapter of the Daughters of the King at Christ Church, a delegate to Convention and the convener of the Be-Attitudes regional meetings for the Diocese. Active in the Diocesan Altar Guild, she made many stoles and banners for diocesan clergy and parishes. She was also on the Katrina Relief commission and the Church & the World Commission. She also volunteered for many years with the Diocesan Archivist.
At Christ Church, she contributed to every parish event, was on a Coffee Hour team, a member of St. Faith’s Guild, on the Adult Education committee and an usher. She was responsible for the seasonal and children’s bulletin boards. She was instrumental in beginning a tradition of annual quiet day retreats at Christ Church and she worked hard to make each of them a success, Jan not only worked hard, she was effective at convincing others to give their time and energy to the church and community. An avid knitter, she was chair of the Prayer Shawl group and took the time to make a beautiful baby blanket for almost every infant born at Christ Church. She contributed knitted rectangles to the Handmade Afghan Project which makes afghans to be given to individuals in various military hospitals across the U.S. and in combat zones. She was also contributing to the current needlepoint Kneeler Project. She received the Parish Cross in 2009.
Family history was important to Jan and she was a very active member of the Seattle Genealogical Society for the past 15 years. She was elected multiple times to the Society’s Board of Directors, serving as Director of Volunteers and Director of Communications. At the time of her death, Jan chaired the Research Queries Committee and served as Desk Volunteer Coordinator, in addition to being a regular desk volunteer at the SGS Library. She was a member of the SGS Irish Special Interest Group and co-chaired the Pennsylvania State Focus Group, helped with on-site registration at SGS seminars and represented SGS at Irish Week at the Seattle Center each March and at the Scottish Highland Games each summer. Her continued service earned her the distinction of “Volunteer of the Quarter” in December 2010. She was also an active member of the Eastside Genealogical Society’s Scandinavian Interest Group.
On February 02, 2005 Jan was accepted as a charter member of the newly organized working women Mercer Girls chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Jan proved her lineal descent from her Pennsylvania revolutionary patriot, John McNair and his wife Margaret Denny McNair through their son David. Jan was Washington State DAR School chairman from 2008-2010 and chapter chairman from 2006 until present. Jan was awarded a certificate of achievement for her part in the NSDAR Descendents Project of which over 800.000 record copies are being put into a database for future research. Jan participated in NSDAR State Conferences in Vancouver, Tacoma and finally in Redmond in May of 2011.
Jan also served on the residents Executive Board at University House where she lived for the last eight years of her life.
Jan was preceded in death by both her parents. She is survived by her brother Bill. A memorial service is planned at Christ Episcopal Church, 4548 Brooklyn Ave NE, Seattle WA 98105 (206-633-1611) on Thursday, June 9, 2011 at 1:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Christ Episcopal Church, the Seattle Genealogical Society, the Mercer Girls Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution or the American Cancer Society.