Janet Schurr Jackson
Janet Schurr Jackson, the beloved wife of Frank Jackson and the beloved mother of sons, Michael Jackson and Richard(Rick) Jackson passed away at the Evergreen Hospital on Sunday, February 12th, 2017 as a result of a stroke suffered the previous Sunday at home.
Janet was born Sept 18th, 1931 in San Mateo, California to George A. Schurr and Leslye Wadsworth Schurr. She then resided with her family in Burlingame California until age 12 when they moved to Sacramento California and where she graduated from C. K. McClatchey High School in 1949. She attended the University of California in Berkeley and graduated in 1954 with a BA in Education. She taught first grade in Sacramento for several years.
She met her future husband, Frank Jackson, at the First Methodist Church Wesley Single Adult Club in Sacramento, where Frank was in the Air Force stationed at Mather AFB undergoing advanced navigation training. Janet and Frank were married on July 18th, 1960 in the First Methodist Church in Sacramento. They took a flying honeymoon from Sacramento to Victoria, BC in a Cessna 150 piloted by Frank. They then made their home in Sacramento where Frank worked for Aerojet General. Their first son, Michael, was born there on April 21st, 1961. In 1962 they moved to Santa Maria, California where Frank worked for The Boeing Company at Vandenberg AFB on the Minuteman program. Their second son, Rick, was born on August 18th, 1967. The family moved to their present home in Kirkland, WA in 1976 where Janet was a homemaker and Frank continued to work for Boeing until he retired in 2004.
Janet was always a lover of animals and had numerous pets throughout her life. She contributed to animal rights group and constantly received mail from them. As a small girl in Burlingame, during the war, her family raised chickens, two of whom she named “Lana” and “Heddy”. In Sacramento her father bought her a Dutch Keeshond dog and she named her Wilhelmina and called her “Willie” and who lived 13 years. At this same time she also had a cat she named “Snigomulus” and called her “Sniggy” and who lived 19 years. In Santa Maria, the family had a dog named “Blackjack”. In Kirkland, shortly after moving into the present home, the family acquired a Samoyed dog and she named it “Frosty”. When a neighbor moved away and left their outdoor cat, Jan noticed the cat hanging around the vacant house for several days and not getting fed so she dispatched Frank to take food down to it. The cat, which was all black with a small white chest mark, was initially very skittish and could not be approached to more than 15 feet. After a week or two of daily feeding Frank began to move the feeding dish in about 30 foot steps up the street toward their house. In a week or two the cat was eating from the front porch of Jan’s house, although it was still very skittish and could not be petted. Food for the cat was put out on the front porch daily and after a couple of weeks, the cat calmed down and could be petted. Jan named him “Panther” and he became the family cat for about 6 years. Care for Panther’s last year was shared by the neighbor across the street.
Jan always loved to dance and was into square dancing as a teenager. Jan and Frank joined the Samena Square Dance Club in 1994 and had many happy times there.
Jan inherited the travel bug from her mother and they took many trips together to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America. Janet’s mother, who lived to age 100, lived with Janet and Frank the last several years of her life.
Janet is survived by Frank, her husband of 56 years, her sons, Michael Jackson, Rick Jackson(Clara) and grandson, Brandon Jackson.
A celebration of life will be held on Friday, February 24th, 2017 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at the Barton Family Funeral Service located at 11630 Slater Avenue NE, Suite #1A, Kirkland, WA 98034.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 25th, 2017at the LDS Church located at 7910 NE 132nd Street, Kirkland, WA 98034.
The Burial Service will be on Friday, March 3rd at 2:00 pm at The Kirkland City Cemetery, entrance located on 122nd Ave NE, 1 block North of NE 80th St..