Obituary for Janet M. Withers

 

 

Janet Marie Bolgard was the eldest child born to Irma (Schuchardt) and Clifford Bolgard in St. Louis, MO on July 3, 1933. She passed away at the age of 89 on October 29, 2022.

She grew up in Evanston, IL, attended the College of Wooster, and graduated with a BA in early childhood education from Northwestern University. She married Bruce Withers on June 20, 1952, had four daughters, and was happily married for 52 years.

Janet enjoyed many careers: substitute teacher, florist, legal secretary, medical transcriptionist. She was a Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary (Westerville), where she was in charge of the Student of the Month award, an active participant in the I Can program, and interviewed scholarship applicants. She served as a deacon, elder, clerk of session and choir member at First Presbyterian Church of Westerville. She was a member of the first class of Inniswood Metro Garden volunteers and a member of D.I.G. She was secretary of the Westerville chapter of the American Association of University Women and a member of the Metropolitan Columbus Daylily Society.

She is survived by daughters Ann Elder, Lynn Cameron, Mary (Brad) Keller, Joan (Jeffrey) Priest, and two brothers Robert and Roger (Susan) Bolgard. She loved her nine grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.