Janice Edith Valdez

On the evening of October 11th, at approximately 7:15 pm, Janice Edith Valdez (76 yrs.) of San Diego, California passed away after a 13-month battle with Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM), an aggressive brain tumor, which was located in her right temporal and right frontal lobes. As was her wish, Janice passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by her family. Janice was born February 8, 1940 in Staten Island, New York. She was the second child, and the only daughter, of William John MacDonald Sr. and first daughter of Edith Gertrude Wells Hyatt. At an early age, due to her brother’s severe asthma, her mother Edith moved the family across the country from New York to Tucson Arizona; there Janice attended Davidson Elementary School, Catalina Jr. High School and Tucson Senior High School. As a single parent, her life was dedicated to her five children. Her determination to provide for her children led to career choices as diverse as her interests. At one time or another, Jan worked as a lab technician drawing blood and an assistance in a hospital morgue. She managed the Shoe-Shine Service in the golf shop of the Arizona Biltmore resort. She worked for M.M. Sundt Construction Company as a Teamster transporting heavy construction equipment throughout the Southwest. Later she worked in various social service positions helping drug addicts and the chronically mentally ill, and eventually found her way into computers. Being a single parent and working full time jobs, it took Jan sixteen years to earn her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of Arizona. After acquiring her degree, and for the majority of the 1980s, Jan worked exclusively with the chronically mentally ill. She worked as a counselor in both the outpatient and in-patient units at St. Mary’s Hospital and Kino Hospital in Tucson, where she was also the liaison to the Arizona State Hospital. In the late 1980s, Jan found herself working for ADAPT, a funding distributor for all mental health agencies in Southern Arizona. It was here where she “stumbled” into the computer field. We say stumbled because she helped a colleague reboot her computer and was thus identified as the only computer literate person in the agency. She was entrusted with control of the agency’s mainframe. Jan’s husband, Esteban, recalls a time that Jan came home from work and told him, “I don’t know what I’m doing!” Esteban told her, “That’s ok. Just don’t let anyone else know.” In typical Jan fashion, she immersed herself in all things computer. She learned FORTRAN, computer language, coding, and the essentials of network operations. In January of 1993, Jan followed Esteban to San Diego where he had received an appointment as a librarian at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) Libraries. After a few leisurely months enjoying La Jolla California, Jan found herself working in the Sleep Apnea Lab run by Dr. Joel Dimsdale at the UCSD Medical Center Hillcrest. There, Jan honed she computer skills, acquiring Cisco certification and learning network operations. She eventually became very proficient in network operations and she retired as Information Technology (IT) Administrator for the UCSD Medical Center Hillcrest Pediatric Department in 2005. In her retirement and with her continued yearning for knowledge, Jan decided to try her hand at film. She drove north to Los Angeles to attend film making workshops and took local, low cost, film making courses. She joined the San Diego Film Makers and the MAC User groups and was a participant in the 5 Minute Movie Festival. She took online courses teaching herself Final Cut. In recent years, she discovered and became involved with PACE-TV of San Diego, a like-minded group of retirees who produce public interest film that are then show on the local public services television channels. Two days before her 75th birthday she produced her first show for PACE-TV Interview with Dr. Patricia Márquez, Dean of Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies at USD. Link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MzPYMs_KvA Family was extremely important to Janice. She reconnected family members, no matter where she had to travel to, including France, and kept them connected. She also found and reconnected several of her childhood friends (Marian and Chuck). Whenever you spent time with Janice you always left uplifted. She was always positive, encouraging, building self-esteem, and non-judgmental, she is the type of person we aspire to be. Life lessons learned from Janice are: Janice was preceded in death by her parents, William John MacDonald Sr. and Edith Gertrude Wells Hyatt, her brother William (Bill) John MacDonald and daughter Therese Ann Bowerman-Moon. Janice is survived by her devoted partner and spouse of 37-years, Esteban Valdez, her sister Laura E. Richardson, her husband Lee, brothers, John W. MacDonald, his wife Debbie, James Hyatt, and sister-in-law Catherine MacDonald. She is survived by; her daughter Lisa L. Bowerman-Locker, and her two daughters Lauren and Rachel, daughter Diana D. Abril, her husband Jesus, and their three children, Danielle, Michael and Jordan. son Dale L. Bowerman, his wife Bonnie and their son Dusttin, son Dean J. Bowerman, his wife Carrie and their four children Bryce, Brayden, Brenna, and Briley, grandchildren Heather, Brianna and Wade, children of Therese Anne Moon (deceased), Kai Ching (who she and Esteban considered their son), his wife Beatrice and their daughter Tsz Lok, and three great grandchildren; Jacob and Jason Gartell and Xavier Lenz. Janice was a brave, strong and an immensely loving woman who valued her family and friends above all else. Her love was limitless, as all those who knew her could attest to and her warmth and kindness can be seen around the world, as Janice made friends wherever she went. Constantly learning and appreciating new things, she was a woman her family looked up to and strived to be like. A Celebration-of-Life for Janice E. Valdez, a time for Janice’s family and friends to come together and celebrate the unique character and achievements of Janice, will be held on Sunday November 20th at 3p.m (PST). Her Celebration for family and friends will include music and refreshments. Music by: The family gives a special thank-you to;