JANET BURNS

Janet was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, on July 30, 1931, the daughter of Kenneth S. Steed and R. Jewel (Melton) Steed.

Janet moved several times during World War II ending up in Vandalia, Ohio, where she attended high school. She graduated from Bowling Green State University with a degree in education.

After graduation she started her life-long passion of teaching. She taught for over 30 years, beginning in Athena, Oregon. She taught in Springfield, Illinois, before landing in Carlinville where she taught third grade. Janet was well known for her love of Laura Ingalls Wilder, reading Little House in the Big Woods to all her students. She remembered every one of her third-grade students. She also formed close life-long friends with her fellow teachers. In honor of her love for teaching, Janet created a college scholarship fund for Carlinville High School graduates who will pursue a career in education.

Janet belonged to Alpha Delta Kappa, an honorary Teachers’ Sorority, several bridge groups and a special group of friends, the coffee (“cackle club”) group. After she retired, she spent several years giving Laura Ingalls Wilder programs to schools throughout Illinois. She loved to visit her grandchildren’s schools in Seattle, California and Iowa giving these same presentations.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her brothers John and Stanley and her husband Jim. Janet is survived by her brother Roger, children Tim (Kris) of Fort Dodge, IA, Dan (Gia) of Auburn, CA, and Colleen (Mark Murphy) of Seattle, WA, her grandchildren Shelby (Matt Gonner), Helen, Molly, Samantha, Daniel and Keaton and her great-grandchildren Miley and Myla.

Services will be held on January 7, 2023, at the Ss Mary and Joseph Church with a visitation an hour before the service and a reception afterwards at Reno’s in Carlinville. She will be buried at Camp Butler next to her husband Jim, a WW II veteran.

Donations may be made to Ss Mary and Joseph Building Fund, The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, or the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in care of Davis-Anderson Funeral Home, 260 Woodlawn Acres, Carlinville, IL 62626.