Janice Ruth Fagan
Janice Ruth Fagan (Jan) passed away peacefully on November
22 at Hospice of the Chesapeake in Pasadena, Maryland. She was 84, and had suffered from Dementia.
Jan was born in Chester, PA on March 2, 1938 to the late Francis and Ruth (Morton) Thomason. She spent her early childhood in Chester living with her grandmother, Sarah Bruner Morton, who was a school teacher. She cherished those years, and always spoke of them glowingly. Her mother moved the family to Prospect Park, Pennsylvania after a remarriage to Walter Vogel. There she attended Prospect Park High School.
Jan met the love of her life, Joe, on an ice skating pond in the winter of 1952, and the love that blossomed that cold winter afternoon grew stronger every year of their 67-year marriage. They married in 1955 while Joe was serving in the United States Navy, and their first born followed quickly in 1956. While they were never materially rich, their lives were instead rich in commitment, dedication and love for each other. No two people have lived their lives so close in actuality to the ideals they set forth in their wedding vows – “for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad”. They knew the one thing they could count on in life was one another. Together they raised five children, who learned of love, commitment and perseverance through them. She was immensely proud of and dedicated to her children.
Primarily a homemaker throughout her life, she also worked for several years as a Leasing Agent at apartment complexes. In addition to lovingly caring for her children, her nurturing soul made her a great lover of animals of all kinds. She once rescued five baby rabbits who had been abandoned by their mother, feeding them with an eye dropper until they could eat on their own, and they all survived. Years later, she did the same with several ducklings that had been rescued by her son, Dan, after being washed down a storm drain. Again, all survived and were released at a local park, but those same ducks would remember her whenever she visited the park. A dog lover and owner throughout her life, she became even more enthusiastic about dogs as her children grew up and moved out. Jan was never without at least two dogs to care for, and they were crazy about her. Her menagerie also included birds and rabbits at times.
Jan was predeceased by her beloved husband, Joe, in July of this year. She is survived by five children: Dawn Lowe (Ed) of Bowie, Maryland, Joseph Vincent “Vince” Fagan, Jr, of Churchton, Maryland, Kelly Buck (Jim) and Janine, both of Crofton, Maryland, and Daniel (Michelle) of Allentown, Pennsylvania, and five grandchildren: Jillian and Graham Buck, Kaileigh Fagan Hobson, Alexander Fagan, and Sara Fagan. She is also survived by a sister and brother, Sandra Jean Cornog and Walter Brant Vogel – both of Brookhaven, Pennsylvania.
Services are private. Any donations in rememberance should be sent to the Dementia Society of America at www.dementiasociety.org