Janet Eileen Conner

Our beloved mother, Janet Eileen Conner, late of the Mostoller clan, who just celebrated her 84th birthday July 30, passed away peacefully, the eve of August 23, 2019, surrounded by the beautiful home she lovingly decorated and attended to for the last 9 years, which in turn had been designed and built, and then doted over, and masterfully landscaped by her loving husband of 62 years, Ralph. Her two kitties, Willie and Buddy, were also at her side. Jan's voice and always restless hands are now forever stilled in this world, yet she is free to soar unfettered by the confines of her earthly existence. Jan is with the angels now and one of those angels is her husband, Ralph. They are now flying the sun-split clouds together forever. Two pilots, soaring through the footless halls of air in Heaven, hand in hand. My father is probably saying something to her like... "Don't forget to pull the flaps up, Jan."

Jan was born in Washington DC on a warm summer day, Tuesday, July 30,1935, at the height of the Great Depression. The family was always on the move as her father (our grandfather) worked as a union electrician. Jobs were very scarce, so they moved from place to place often so he could work to support the growing family. Eventually they wound up in the Tri-City area of Washington State on the Columbia River where they would finally settle down as her father worked during the war as a master electrician at the Hanford Engineer Works, part of the Manhattan Project, where a critical component of the "bomb", was made. Our Mom graduated from Kennewick HS in 1952 and struck out for Florida to work as a squadron dispatcher at a contract flying school that trained Air Force pilots near Tallahassee. She lived there with her Aunt DeeDee and Uncle Bud while working at the airfield where Bud was an instructor. About a year later, during the summer of 1954 along came a smiling guy by the name of Ralph. I am not sure who swept who off of whose feet, but in my father's own words after about 3 months of dating, he proposed and they were married on October 8, 1954. Then my mom became an Air Force wife for the next 18 years, enduring Nebraska blizzards,Roswell deserts and blistering California heat, among the many other places the AF sent her family during the Cold War years, including faithfully enduring his last assignment to South Vietnam, his last tour in SEA, in 1969. After the AF Jan and her family moved to Venice, Florida in 1972 where she and Ralph remained for the next 36 years while suffering lots of sunshine and Gulf of Mexico surf. Jan worked in real estate alongside Ralph with modest success. All the while our mom was the consummate homemaker. She loved her cooking at which she was the best bar none. She was also a pilot since 1968. When final retirement came it was off to New Mexico again, this time Albuquerque, for full retirement and to be near their kids.

Ralph passed away in 2017 after almost 63 years of marriage. On August 23, 2019 Mom joined him in the arms of God. She is survived by her son, Steve; daughter, Linda Smithhisler; son-in-law, Mark and cherished grandson Galen; as well as her two sisters, Geraldine Flaten and Sandy Mostoller; and numerous cousins. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made to Wreaths Across America.

A Memorial Service will be held on Monday, October 7, 2019, at 12:00 noon at FRENCH - Lomas. Final interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery in December.