Born to parents Harold and Jean Warm in 1929, Janet was the youngest sibling of brother David and sister Mary Jean (O’Brien), all now deceased. She is survived by her four children, Scott Jones of Grand Rapids, MI, Tracy Barrett (David) of Ann Arbor, MI, Jody Jones (Jack Witham) of Arrowsic, ME, and Max Jones (Lisa Muller- Jones) of Saco, ME; stepdaughter, Anne Grant (Nelson Rodriguez) of Tucson, AZ; six grandchildren, Erin Witham, Esther Barrett, Marley Witham, Claire Barrett, Hannah LaMarca, and Sophia Miranda; and loving in laws, nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of longtime friends.
Janet was a 1948 Ottawa Hills High School graduate, attending next the Ringling School of Art & Design. Then after a stint at Grand Rapids Junior College and a marital shift to start her family, she received her bachelor of arts degree in education from Michigan State University in 1964, becoming an elementary school teacher.
Her calling as an educator started in 1960 with Dorothy Treleven and her home nursery school in Grand Rapids. She went from there to Director of Preschool Education at Temple Emanuel on East Fulton. With her college degree, she began teaching kindergarten at Grand Rapids’ Jefferson Elementary. After a short hiatus to have her fourth child, she started the Janet Jones Nursery Center (1971) in her beach home on Ferrysburg’s North Shore, which she ran successfully for 17 years. During this last period, she also taught college level education courses for both Michigan State and Grand Valley State Universities. In 1985 she became the Principal of Grand Rapids’ Palmer Elementary, a position she held until her retirement in 1992.
A passionate and acknowledged expert in educationally and emotionally nurturing children ages 3 to 6, her nursery school was authoritatively considered by many the finest of its kind in Michigan, providing children a peaceful, happy, innovative, exciting, and ultimately successful learning experience. For Janet it was personally and professionally always all about each child’s personal development. Every educational decision she ever made first included the question, “What would be best for this child?”
An active and accomplished artist throughout her life, she spent her early retirement focused on both landscape painting and portraiture, with family and friends the beneficiaries of her talent. And later, even after her Macular Degeneration became pervasive, her artistic capability still shone through. She continued to paint until nearly the very end.
Janet called North Shore in Ferrysburg, MI home most of her life. Its beach was her spiritual promenade and her cottage, built by her father, her chapel. And whenever possible she happily and lovingly filled it to the brim with family and friends, her welcoming smile, generous nature, warm engaging personality, kind spirit, and good humor always on display. Imbued with charm, elegance, wit, and a tender regard for children everywhere, Janet was adoring of the many she loved and adored by all of us who loved her.
A remembrance service will be held at Grand Rapids’ Fountain Street Church on Friday, Oct. 3 at 2 p.m. with a reception immediately following. For Janet’s friends in Maine, there will also be a gathering at the Reid State Park Pavilion on Thursday, Aug. 7 at 3 p.m. Donations in honor of Janet, can be sent to the Grand Haven Community Foundation’s Family & Children’s Fund, One South Harbor Drive, Grand Haven, MI 49417. Arrangements are under the direction and care of Brackett Funeral Home, Brunswick.
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