Janet S. "Jan" Fitzgerald's Obituary
Janet (Montney) Fitzgerald, age 70, and long-time resident of Muskegon, MI. lived courageously with cancer while being lovingly cared for by her sisters Nancy (Montney) Fulton, Linda (Montney) Combs, and favorite niece, Robin (Tice) LaMadline, until she passed on Sunday, July 26, 2020. Janet was born on July 3, 1950 in Waukesha, Wisconsin before moving to the Muskegon area in 1956. She was raised with 4 brothers and 3 sisters in a home full of love and adventure! Janet filled her life with family, enjoyed crafts, filmed home movies, and loved to read – a small library couldn’t hold the amount of books she read. Many knew of her love affair with Captain Kirk and her sizable Star Trek collection! She was never afraid to share that or anything else that was on her mind or in her heart! She had a very kind heart connected to a sharp tongue, which most people appreciated. Janet has three sons, Fredrick Fitzgerald Jr. of Holton MI, Michael Fitzgerald of Roanoke, TX, married to Jill Fitzgerald, and Daniel Fitzgerald of Holton, MI. While daringly raising her three boys, she became active in Cub Scouts. For 8 years, Janet was the Den Mother to all three sons, their friends and many boys in East Broadway. When her granddaughters joined Girl Scouts, she once again involved herself as a Troop Leader for 5 years. She also participated in the Big Brother and Big Sisters program, as a Big Sister. She gave a lot of her non-working hours to help others. Janet loved all children and enjoyed making every child feel special and loved. She treasured her children, nieces, nephews, cousins and especially her 7 grandkids, (Melissa, Ricky, Tara, Lisa-Marie, Daniel, Abigail and Gavin) and 12 great-grandkids, (Byanka, Breanna, Joben, Emma, Ricky, Riley, Billie, Daniel, Lillie, Audre, Aleaya and Jamie Sue). Janet always maintained her playful spirit and her inner child never grew up. She enjoyed playing cards and board games, playing tricks, reading books, horsing around, fishing, and camping with the kids. She did her best to fill their lives with joy, and created lasting, cheerful memories with them all. On the job front, Janet had the strongest work ethic of anyone you’ve ever met. She worked 35 years for Tom and Pattie Heron. She managed the Apple Avenue Mr. Scrib’s for the past 25 years and took great pride in its reputation as Muskegon’s best Mr. Scrib’s. She loved her crew and taught some of life’s lessons to her younger employees. Her motto was, “hard work cures all ills.” If you came to work with a broken heart . . . work hard, keep your mind on your work and you will feel better. Same thing if there was a problem at school, at home or even a spider bite, it didn’t matter, hard work would cure it all. Janet also worked as a Teacher’s Aide and Nutrition Aide at Oakview and Holton Elementary Schools for 15 years. She worked through the pain and discomfort of her illness until the day she was diagnosed and hospitalized. Survived by her siblings Nancy (Montney) Fulton, Linda (Montney) Combs, John (Karen) Montney, Joe (Tami) Montney, Tim Montney and her Godfather Christian Ramsvig. Preceded in death by her father Clayton Montney, sister Emma Jane Montney, mother Betty (Hinton) Montney, sister Mary Ann (Montney) Kogler, brother Clifford Montney and her close companion for over 2 decades Clifford Blamer. Visitations will be held from 2:00-4:00PM and 6:00-8:00 PM on Thursday, July 30, 2020 at The Lee Chapel of Sytsema Funeral & Cremation Services, 6291 S. Harvey St. Norton Shores, MI 49444. A Funeral service will be held on Friday, July 31, 2020 at 11:00 AM with visitation 1 hour prior at the funeral home. Burial will take place in Merrill Township Cemetery Saturday August 1, 2020 at 11:00 AM. Over the last 18 months, Janet never complained or asked, “why me?” She only wished she could get well to return to her life of grandkids and work. Janet deeply appreciated everyone that visited or sent messages of love or well wishes. She was truly moved by the amount of people that cared, as she had always cared for them.
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