Janet Morreale
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Janet (McCroskey) Morreale shuffled off this mortal coil on Monday, October 1. Jan was born November 14, 1937, 80 years ago, at St. Luke’s Hospital.
Jan loved life, especially when it involved family and friends. She has good friends from Church Without Walls (CWW) from fifty plus years ago that she still hangs out with. Some of them led her to a new terrific group of friends called The Wine Group. She is not the most extroverted person, in fact she’s mostly an introvert. Which means that she chooses carefully the people that she wants to associate with. So if she gave you her attention it meant she really cared.
If you crossed her though, or threatened anyone she cared about, you saw the mama lion come out. She had a long fuse but if it burned to the end… look out. And if you told her she couldn’t do something, you saw how stubborn, strong and determined she could be. Most of the time, though, she was there with a smile, a happy disposition and was ready to laugh. When she was out she loved a little bit of red wine or scotch and good food to go with it.
She loved to travel and did a fair amount of what would be considered daring voyages for a young female in the 50’s. She was traveling, in Seattle, when she met her husband, Roland. Together they did quite a bit – Europe, the Indy 500, the Albuquerque Balloon Fest, NY at the drop of the hat to see The Lion King, and many other escapes. As a kid, their son, Craig, benefited from the grand road trips they would take during the summers. East, West, North, South…everywhere and something different each time.
Most recently her trips were out to San Diego to visit Craig and his family. She loved Linda and Shayla, and the feeling was very mutual. Linda’s family would come in when she was there and they loved her very much, too. They became like an extended second family to her. She was all set to head out there for Christmas again; ticket purchased. Craig, Linda and Shayla had so many things planned for her, but the best part of her trips out there was just sitting and being with each other. And her favorite granddog, Murphy, who would lick her ear to wake her up in the morning.
Disney and Disneyland were also passions of hers; Craig and family will be doing a special tribute to her at Space Mountain, her absolute favorite ride, in just a couple of weeks.
Lastly, and certainly not least, is that she was the best mom ever. She was nurturing, encouraging, protecting and supportive. And still was right up until the end. She will be very very missed.
She is survived by her son, Craig, daughter-in-law, Linda, and granddaughter, Shayla Morreale, as well as cousins Aldre Hotujac and family, Susan Hendricks and family, and Jeff Stone and family.
A celebration of life will be held this Saturday, October 6 from 3:30 to 5 at O’Neill’s Pub at 9417 Mission Road, Leawood.
We loved Jan and will miss her. Very much.
Lots of love
Jan and I met at Craig and Linda’s wedding, almost 18 years ago. Although we only saw each other yearly during the holidays, we became close friends. She was an amazing woman. Warm, loving and very intelligent. I will miss my friend very much. She was a bright star at our family gatherings and we will always remember her with loving thoughts. Rest well, my friend.
Eva Johnson
Thorton Wilder wrote, “The highest tribute to the deceased is not grief, but gratitude.”
• Thank you Jan for being the best mother-in-law a woman could ask for.
• Thank you for caring for me as your own daughter and making me feel so welcomed in your family.
• Thank you for raising a wonderful son who turned out to be a loving, honest and caring husband and father.
• Thank you for always having a smile on your face and making everyone around you smile as well.
• Thank you for getting on flights year after year and spending the holidays with us.
• Thank you for being such an easy houseguest.
• Thank you for always being up for whatever we had planned – Tea, dinners out, The Nutcracker, the Hotel Del, driving around looking at Christmas lights.
• Thank you for loving strong coffee.
• Thank you for having wine in the afternoon with me.
• Thank you for loving my vegetarian meals.
• Thank you for taking us to Disneyland and making it so special for all of us.
• Thank you for always trying to help, even when I didn’t let you.
• Thank you for spreading your love to my parents and siblings — getting along so well with my side of the family – they all love you too.
• Thank you for being such a loving and caring Grandmother to our daughter, Shayla, her life is so blessed to have had you in it.
• Thank you for being more then just my husband’s mother, thank you for being my friend.
There are so many things I could thank Jan for – in fact I could go on for hours. I’m just so grateful that I had the chance to be part of her family and for her to be a part of mine. There are so many things that I will miss about her — her visits at Christmas, her little gifts that she picked out for each of us and wrapped so lovingly in recycled paper from the year before, talking with her on the phone. I’ll miss her smile, her laugh and her positive attitude.
It’s true that you take people in your lives for granted until they are gone. I didn’t realize how much love Jan showed me personally, how lucky I was to have such a wonderful mother-in-law, until now, being faced with not having her visit this Christmas, not being able to talk to her again. I will miss her so much, but I am grateful for the almost 20 years that I knew her. She will always have a place in my heart.
So, from San Diego, I raise a glass to you, Jan and say this Irish blessing:
“Those we love don’t go away,
They walk beside us every day,
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
Still loved, still missed and very dear.
When I heard that my incredible Grandma Jan had passed away I felt like I had been hit by an overwhelming wave of sorrow. I miss her more and more each day I remember that she’s gone. She was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever known, and I loved her so very much. Every time we got to talk on the phone or communicate through Skype she was always so interested in what I was doing at school, and was incredibly supportive of my artwork and other hobbies. Talking to her on Sundays is something I’m going to miss tremendously. It’s hard to believe that it was only a couple weeks ago that I spoke to her over the phone, and I wish I could’ve seen her face once more before she passed. I’m very fortunate to have been able to see her every Sunday even if we lived far away from each other. I feel like every time I saw her she was joyful and sounded so happy to see me. I can’t think of a time I saw a frown on her face.
One of the most painful facts to think about is Christmas. We were so close to seeing her at Christmastime, and it’s going to feel so empty here without her. All the time before we would hang up from Skype or the phone we would tell each other how excited we were to see each other over the holiday and how close it was to being here. Knowing that that’s all been thrown out the window is heartbreaking.
I remember going to Disneyland with her a few times, and how much she absolutely loved it. I can still perfectly visualize the picture taken on Space Mountain with her hair flying back and her black eye from falling at the Farmer’s Market. That sure made a funny picture. She was so kind to pass on the passes she received each year to us, and it was definitely all the more fun when she tagged along. We had just recently picked out a pile of Disney pins for her as well.
I miss Grandma Jan so much, and I’m heartbroken that I’ll never be able to talk to her or give her a hug ever again. She was really the best grandma a girl could ever have, and I’m so happy to have known her.
Dear Craig, I’m so moved reading your wife’s wonderful tribute, also your daughter’s and others, and watching the exquisite video. How absolutely blessed Jan was to have you, Craig. Thank you for letting me feel included in her farewell.
The Irish Wake was a wonderful way to celebrate Jan’s life. It was touching and sad but also fun.
Love the soda bread recipe idea–and great pic of you, your Mom and Shayla! Tell Linda and Shayla that we are thinking of them too. You guys have a good time at Disneyland and raise a toast to Jan! She will be missed.
Jan was my oldest best friend. By oldest I mean almost 40 years. She was the dearest, most positive and happiest person I know. She never ceased to amaze me by the things she wanted to do and actually did. I lot of that was provided by Roland, no matter how over-the-top it was. I was delighted to hear of her going to clown school and riding in an Indy car some years ago. Who does that? That was pure Jan. While talking on the phone a couple of weeks ago, she wanted to know when the next wine-group party will be. She was looking forward to a Halloween party as always.
I met Jan at a Wine Group gathering a few years ago. Leon had introduced her to our group. We all loved her and she was an awesome addition to our group. I had become more acquainted with her after I started working at Overland Park Place where she had lived for awhile. I always looked forward to her smiling face as she got off the elevator. We would have our short chats as she was on her way to breakfast. I had picked her up and taken her to many of our events recently. When you spend time in a car together you get to know more about each other. I will miss her so much when we gather together and also each day I work at OPP. My heart is sad that I will no longer see her and spend time with her. She has been a joy in my life
Thank you for sending me the obituary to read, it described Jan to perfection. You couldn’t think of Jan without seeing a smile on her face, and the little wave that she gave when she said “hey, you do what you have to do”. She did so much more than she had to do, particularly the corned beef and cabbage every St. Patrick’s Day. In the old days she had a party virtually every Saturday night in the night club basement, how she handled it all I don’t know. I was in hospital one time and asked for no visitors, however along came Jan with her big smile and hugs, as she was leaving I said “Jan, please don’t leave” and she didn’t. I never heard Jan say an unkind word about anybody, she was such a loving person.
I loved the video of her life, she scarcely changed at all during the years. Her wedding photos were just beautiful, both she and Roland looked so happy. Craig meant so much to his mother, and Shayla was the darling of her life. She gave so much to everyone one couldn’t help but love her.
Goodbye Jan, you’ll always be with us but on the other side of the wall. You are already missed. You are awakened from the “Dream of Life”.
I left my message but for some reason the computer put it under my son’s name, James Christopher Jones. Actually, Chris said to me how sorry he was that Jan had passed away because he really liked her, he was very fond of Roland too.
Imagine the shock I felt this morning (01/10/2019) when the Christmas card that I had sent to Jan was returned with the message “deceased” scribbled on the envelope. Jan & Roland lived directly across the street from my wife and I and our daughter when we lived in Overland Park. They were wonderful neighbors, and it seemed one of us was often letting the other into our respective house when we would lock ourselves out. It was also a shock when Jan told us that Roland had passed away, but we still had Jan to correspond with on Christmas. Now we have neither. We didn’t really know them deeply, but we did know about their jobs, their vacations, and of course, their son, Craig and his family. I remember seeing the excitement in their eyes when their granddaughter was born. They couldn’t wait to tell us about her. We watched their house for them on their numerous trips to see their son and family, and the favor was returned to us whenever we traveled. We miss them, and I’m sorry that we couldn’t give our condolences in person to Craig and family. As delightful as they were to us, I can only imagine how important they were to all of you. May God give you peace until you meet Jan and Roland again.