Janet Colwell Young passed away at home on January 16th, 2024. Her 95th birthday on New Year's Day was recently celebrated with her loving family.
Janet was born just before the start of the Great Depression, in Susquehanna, PA, to George Colwell and Gladys Skinner Colwell. The third of six children, Janet enjoyed her childhood on their subsistence farmstead, but was stressed by her parent's constant bickering and eventual separation– a pattern she vowed not to repeat. When her Aunt Hattie moved in and took over running the household, Janet deeply appreciated how she organized the house and provided three generous meals a day.
After graduating from Mansfield State Teachers College, Janet moved to Truxton, NY, to teach Home Economics and Health at the K-12 Truxton School. While leading a class discussion on dating, she posed a question to her students – what were they looking for in a future spouse? One student, Ken Young, turned the query back to her. Hearing her answer, he stated she should meet his older brother.
Janet met Ernie Young at the next school dance and the two were married the following summer. Soon, school teaching gave way to motherhood. While the couple initially settled in East Homer across from her in-laws, Hazel and Otis Young, in 1959 they bought a dairy farm on W. Keeney Road in Cuyler. Janet and Ernie would live in that house for the next 64 years, raising five children.
After 28 years as a stay-at-home-mother, Janet attended TC3 to become a registered nurse. Graduating at age 53, she worked mostly at Cortland Memorial Hospital for the next decade. Janet’s retirement years were spent enjoying her grandchildren, gardening, quilting, and volunteering in her community and at her church, with a focus on creating programs for youth. She taught countless youth how to sew, cook, and bake over her many decades as a 4-H leader. A woman of deep faith, Janet was an integral member of the Cuyler United Methodist Church for over 64 years.
While it is always too soon to let someone so beloved go, Janet lived a full and successful life. She found an enduring partnership with Ernie and provided a loving and stable home to her many “bonus”and biological offspring; the fulfillment of the dream and resolve she carried forward from her childhood--an era where families like hers had been labeled "broken”. As a testament to these efforts, Janet’s final weeks were spent at home, tenderly cared for by her family and caregivers.
Janet is preceded in death by “Two who came into my life as children, not of my womb but of my heart”--Lamont Smith, the first person to call her grandma, who the family hosted 1976-1983 as part of the Fresh Air Fund, and her mentee, Bridget Nye. She is also predeceased by her siblings Georgia, Jacob, Jesse, and Mary Jane and her son-in-law, Richard Arnold. Surviving Janet are her husband of 72 years, Ernest, and their children: William (Barbara) Young, Kathie Arnold, Marty (Mary Ann) Young, Priscilla Young, and Cecelia (Leonard) Murray, as well as 19 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren, her brother John (Beryl) Colwell, and many nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Life will be held on April 27th at the Cuyler United Methodist Church at 11:30, with time for sharing of stories of how Janet touched lives. A meal and fellowship to follow at the Cuyler Fire Hall. Donations in memory of Janet can be made to the Cuyler United Methodist Church, 6873 East Keeney Rd Ext., Cuyler, NY 13158; Habitat for Humanity of Tompkins and Cortland Counties, P.O. Box 4683 Ithaca, NY 14852; or to Heifer International, 1 World Ave., Little Rock AR 72202.
