Surrounded by love, Jan died this Monday, July 22, 2013, from a stroke. She was 79.
In 1934, “Janny” was born the first of two children, to Wilford and Lola Jones. Jan entertained many with stories of her childhood days on Orr’s Island, in Bowdoinham and Topsham. The family settled in Brunswick, where Wilford started W. E. Jones Well Drilling Company, and where Jan graduated from high school.
Jan earned a lab sciences degree at Westbrook College in 1955. She married Bowdoin College graduate, Al Stark, from East Greenwich, Rhode Island. They settled in Brunswick, Maine, where Al ran the well drilling business and Jan ran their home. Together, they built a successful Amway business and traveled the world over with the friends they made. They were members of the First Parish Church in Brunswick.
Jan had a knack for landscape design, drawing, painting, quilting, and writing. She volunteered for Regional Memorial Hospital, Merrymeeting Audubon Society, and the Reeds Mill Ladies Sewing Circle. She enjoyed playing bridge and quilting with the girls. She had strong faith in Jesus Christ. Her family skied, fished, and traveled the back roads of Maine. In 2007, Al and Jan built a log home along the Sandy River in Phillips, Maine, near family.
Jan is survived by her husband, Howard Alan Stark; their children: Bradford Stark, Sarah Stark, and Mandy Conley (Mondale); grandchildren: Robert A. Duckworth III, Tyler Duckworth, Hannah Cox, James Quinn, Chloé Quinn, Niles Quinn, Lorraine Miller, Lisa Quinn, and Michelle Quinn; a slew of great-grandchildren; sister, Joyce Davis (Peter); nieces: Robyn Davis, Cheryl Fullerton, and Melinda Walter; and nephews: Greg Hanson and Jay Hanson.
A memorial service for Jan will be held at 3:00, Saturday, July 27, 2013, at the Reeds Mill Church in Madrid, Maine. In lieu of flowers, Jan would have appreciated a donation to her favorite volunteer group: the Reeds Mill Ladies Sewing Circle: c/o Marie Bubier, Treasurer, 62 Pinkham Hill Road, Phillips, ME 04966. The ladies quilted heartily to support local benevolences and the Reeds Mill Church, their little church in the wildwood.
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