OBITUARIES

WHITENER, Janet Champion

Janet Champion Whitener of Fairmount peacefully departed this world on March 18, 2023, after a courageous 16-month battle with ovarian cancer. Janet was born on August 25, 1960, at Fort Benning Army Base in Columbus, Georgia. It was from there that her life’s story began.

She was the daughter of Von Champion and the late Marcelle McHugh Champion of Fairmount.

Also preceding her in death was her husband, Mr. Nick Whitener of Fairmount. Janet is survived by her sisters, Cindy Champion Seabolt and Vonda Champion (Roger, Jr.) Miller all of Fairmount in addition to two very special cousins: Jennifer Champion (Kirk) Jarrett from Calhoun and Kathy Champion (Allan) Bunch from Fairmount as well as a wonderful aunt, Linda (Dave) Foster of Calhoun. Additionally, she is survived by a nephew, Roger Miller, III, and two nieces, Ella, and Claire Seabolt. Janet is also survived by several amazing aunts and uncles including Billy (Jackie-dec) Champion, Jack (Gail) Champion and Joe Champion, Jr. (Shirley) all from Fairmount. Also, there are many aunts, uncles, and cousins who have preceded/survived her in death.

Janet was well-loved by her family, friends, co-workers and students.

Often at supper time, you could hear Janet and her mother cooking, and laughing together, regaling each other with stories about the events of their day. She was an amazing cook who could whip up a mean lemon icedbox pie with perfect meringue every time. She and her father shared a love of history and sports, especially baseball and football. Janet and her father loved watching everything from old western movies (especially ones starring John Wayne) to the Atlanta Braves. The love she shared with her sisters was one few other sisters might have ever been so fortunate to share. Not only were they sisters but they were also friends who bolstered each other up when needed and who had fun together whenever they were around one another. You could often find them dancing in the kitchen on Saturday mornings practicing their American Band Stand moves, all-the-while laughing at each other’s inabilities to “bust a move.”

If you were ever fortunate enough to have Janet as a friend, you knew from the start that she would be a friend for life. She supported her friends and always seemed to know the right thing to say or do for another person. Janet was also quirky in a way that made her even more awesome. She never left the house without her kitchen faucet perfectly centered on her kitchen sink and she was the queen of list-making. If she were ever going to complete anything or go anywhere, you could be certain there would be a list to match it. She would even go as far as to add an item that was not previously listed just so she could mark through it later. It was that quirkiness that made her so much fun to be around. For instance, you never knew when she was going to show up packed for a family vacation using Target or Macy’s bags instead of luggage (unless there was an airport involved). In her mind, luggage was bulky and hard to move. Trust us. As her family, we enjoyed teasing her about the more interesting parts of her personality, but she could always find a quick and humorous comeback. She had a clever wit about her that many enjoyed.

From an early age, Janet knew that she wanted to be an elementary school teacher, and after graduating from Fairmount High School, she pursued and earned a degree in teaching. For the next 30 years, she followed her dream and made history come alive in the minds of the thousands of students she taught. She began her career at Spring Place Elementary School in Chatsworth, Georgia and brought it to an amazing end at Fairmount Elementary.

To Janet, being a teacher was also about sharing a love of reading (whether it was history-related or not), and one genre she especially enjoyed was poetry.

To end this ever-so-brief story of Janet’s time here on earth, is to share a quote from one of her favorite authors, the late Shel Silverstein: “There are no happy endings. Endings are the saddest part. So just give me a happy middle and a very happy start.”

Janet’s body will be cremated and there will be a private ceremony held at a future date for her immediate family. Her family would like to thank Michelle Coleman from Home Spun Hospice and two great ladies from Care at Home - Makeda Morris and Kim Myers.

In lieu of flowers, her family asks that you hug the ones you love every day and donate to your favorite charity in her memory.

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen ... yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.”

— Bradley Whitford