Janet Gayle Brubaker

Janet Gayle Brubaker was a New Year’s baby, born January 1, 1942, to Edith Lydia (Butler) Stoughton and Gerald DeWayne Stoughton in Logansport, Indiana, the second child, after her sister Carol, who was three years older. Eight years later, her brother Ron would join the family. As a child, she was heavily involved in the Methodist church and dreamed of becoming a missionary. But she didn’t particularly want to travel the world, and knew that she wanted to have children, so she decided that a degree in social work was the next best thing. Janet graduated from Indiana State University in Terre Haute in 1964 with a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology, with a specialty in Social Work. She worked in the Dean’s office at Indiana State for the entirety of her tenure at ISU. After graduation, she moved onto the Master’s level social work program at IUPUI where she met John Earl Brubaker. They married in 1965. Janet’s first job out of school was at Beatty State Hospital, in Westville, Indiana, working with troubled children and teens. She and John lived on the campus of the hospital, in a dormitory-style room for seven months, until Janet had had enough of never being able to leave the hospital campus and the two moved to Michigan City. One evening, driving along Lake Michigan, Janet saw a large, building-sized silver orb, which she’d never seen before, but as she was headed to a hair appointment, she didn’t take the time to stop. Later that night, returning home, the orb was gone. That’s right, folks. Janet saw a flying saucer on the banks of Lake Michigan. When John got a job with the Grant Blackford Mental Health Center, the couple moved to Marion, Indiana, settling into a house on E Street. Janet volunteered at a children’s charity in Marion, where she did fundraising and program development. Both John and Janet made life-long friends in Marion. In 1972, their first child, Erin Aylene was born. Alyson Elaine came along in 1976. After a two year stay in Portsmouth, Ohio, where John worked for a county agency, the family picked up stakes and moved to a warmer locale. They settled in Austin, Texas. While her girls were young, Janet stayed home with them. The family home was the last one in a brand-new development, which meant that the road stopped at the end of the lawn and beyond that were acres of prairie, dotted with pecan trees. Janet and the girls would traipse through the wild land, gathering pecans so Janet could make her famous pecan pies. She also gardened, raising a bounty of vegetables for the family’s dinner table. As her girls grew up, Janet ventured into the workforce. Her first job in Austin used her artistic talents. She painted decorative items like planters and rabbit figurines (some of which she still owns samples of) which were sold locally in boutiques and nationwide through catalogs. Erin and Alyson have fond memories of coming home from school to find the kitchen table covered with beautifully detailed ceramic figurines. Janet was a little concerned about trying to re-enter the social work field after a decade and a half of working from home, but she had fond memories of her job in the Dean’s office at ISU, so she decided to pursue work as a secretary and applied for a job with a trucking company. She thought the interview for the position had gone well, but as it was wrapping up, the owner of the trucking company said to her, “I can’t hire you for this position.” That was a little disheartening, but he went on to tell Janet she was just too qualified for the work, and he wanted permission to send her resume to his ex-wife, the director of The ARC of Austin, a social service agency serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. So that’s the agency Janet ended up working for, first as a secretary, and later as the Director of the CLASS program, which served young people with intellectual and physical disabilities. Janet was known to say that it felt “like a God-thing” because she’d ended up right where she needed to be, back in the field of social work. John and Janet moved from Austin to San Angelo, Texas in the early 2000s, where Janet transitioned into the field of gerontological social work, a real passion of hers. She worked as a social worker at Baker-Brame Skilled Nursing for a time, then transitioned to a sister company, Regency House, where she worked as a social worker and Admissions Director. That company was purchased by a big national chain of nursing homes and began raising prices. Janet quoted a price for care to a patient, but the company insisted on charging him the newly instituted higher rate. Janet protested such an unethical practice and told the accounting office to charge the man the original price she’d quoted him, telling her supervisor to fire her if she didn’t like it. The supervisor did fire Janet. But when Mr. Brame, the owner at the previous facility she’d worked at learned of it, he immediately rehired her at a higher salary. This story won’t be surprising to anyone who knew Janet. She always had a deep sense of morality and fairness. And though life isn’t known to be fair, in this case, Janet’s ethical stance paid off. After retiring, John and Janet moved to Fort Collins, Colorado. At the time, both Alyson and Erin lived in Colorado, so they were willing to venture back into the cold. Janet and John joined the Poudre Golden K Kiwanis Club, where they formed close friendships, learned a lot about the community from the various speakers at club meetings, and did a whole lot of good works. Janet raised money by selling packets of peanuts outside grocery stores. She put together backpacks full of school supplies for low-income kids. She hosted pancake breakfasts for veterans. She tutored young kids. And she helped to fund many worthwhile community programs to help disadvantaged children. Janet and John also joined Foothills Unitarian Church, where they participated in Dinners in the Home and the Adult Discussion Group, making many close friends. Janet also began cultivating a community garden at the church and recruited lots of folks to help out. For many summers, the group would grow veggies to sell at the church, contributing the money to the work of the church. They would also take fresh vegetables to the Larimer County Food Bank, for distribution to folks in need of assistance in the community. After all, everybody deserves access to healthy food, something which Janet believed strongly. During the pandemic, Janet and John joined their church community circle and made even more friends there. Janet also joined the Sisterhood, a women’s group, and dearly loved the members of that group, who went out of their way to walk with her through her cancer diagnosis and John’s death. When John was diagnosed with dementia, Janet also began participating in a support group for spouses of people with dementia and formed very tight bonds with her fellow support group participants. Janet and John traveled extensively in their retirement. They took a river cruise down the Danube, spending wonderful days strolling through Nuremberg and Budapest, hearing beautiful music and seeing the wonders of the world. A cruise to Alaska saw them viewing towering icebergs and exotic wildlife. They loved their explorations so much that they bought an RV and spent years touring the country. They’d stay on BLM land in the southwest and on one notable occasion, they even drove the rig to the East Coast, with Janet at the wheel. The through line in Janet’s life was her devotion to family, her love of tending the land, and her commitment to doing what is right and just to make the world a better, more beautiful place. If you knew Janet, you knew she was an artist, a gardener, an amazing cook and baker, a reader, a loyal, kind-hearted friend, and a devoted wife, mother, and grandmother. She was smart, funny, beautiful, and a genuinely sweet soul. Her passing is a loss to this world and to all those lucky enough to have known her. Janet died peacefully at Pathways Hospice, in Fort Collins, Colorado, on Friday, January 3, 2025, just days after her 83rd birthday, surrounded by loved ones. Thank you to the staff and volunteers at the UCHealth Cancer Center for the care they provided Janet after her cancer diagnosis, and those at Pathways for the tremendous care they provided Janet in her final days. Janet was predeceased by her husband, John, who left us in October, and her sister, Carol. Janet is survived by her daughter, Erin Price, her husband Stefan, and their kids, Elijah and Rachel, and her daughter, Alyson Johnson, her husband, Brad, and their kids, Abigail, Elijah, Riley, and Caleb. She is also survived by her brother, Ron and his wife Mary, and their kids and grandkids, and by the kids and grandkids of her sister, Carol. Janet had many, many devoted friends, who will sorely miss her. In lieu of flowers, please do two things in honor of Janet: make a donation to Larimer County Food Bank, one of her favorite organizations, and plant something in the ground. A memorial service will be held at Foothills Unitarian Church, 1815 Yorktown Avenue, Fort Collins, Colorado at 2 pm on Saturday, February 8, 2025.

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Janet Gayle Brubaker

January 1, 1942 - January 3, 2025