Janita D. Olson

Moorhead, Minn.

Her name was unusual — Janita.

She said her mother may have made it up, but she did hear about a few other Janita’s during her life, which, after 86 years, came to an end Friday, June 22, at Elim Rehab & Care Center in Fargo.

She was cared for at Elim with respect and regard for her dignity, both by staff and members of Hospice of the Red River Valley.

The same is true of the care she received at Lindentree Circle in Moorhead, where she lived until recently.

Janita loved plants and they loved her, particularly those fortunate enough to find themselves in the gardens she tended at her family lake place.

On that subject, she loved her family and her many relatives and we all loved her.

She loved her friends — you know who you are, ladies — including the many she made in Florida, where she spent many a happy winter in her retirement years.

Janita, who worked for 25 years as a switchboard operator at The Forum, was a reader and lover of art, for which she had no small talent.

Whether painting, drawing, or decorating Christmas cookies, she created fun and beauty out of whatever she found around her.

She told bedtime stories based on characters she came up with, including the Adventures of Robin Redbreast, Boy Bird, who lived in the backyard.

And always, always, she thought of others before she thought of herself.

It showed in the calendars that she filled with the birthdays of friends and family, so she would remember all with a call or a card.

When the world lost Janita, it lost a gentle and kind soul; but she wouldn’t want anyone making a fuss.

“Laugh and the world laughs with you,” she would say. “Cry, and you cry alone.”

Still, mom, we miss you. And we love you.

Janita is survived by her children: Lynda, Daniel, David, and Scott; and her daughter in law, Clare Malloy.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Ted, whose world revolved around her; her sister, AnnaMae; her brothers: Bud, Ronald and Harlan, and a grandson, David Albert Demke.

Visitation will be Wednesday, June 27, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., followed by a prayer service at 7:30 p.m., in Wright Funeral Home, Moorhead, Minn.

Funeral will be Thursday, June 28, at 11 a.m., in Wright Funeral Home, Moorhead, Minn.