Janice Christine Whitson

Jan Whitson, 53, of Hoodsport passed away Friday January 7, 2005, at the University Of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. She was born July 12, 1951 in Helena, Montana to Joe and Shirley Whitson. After graduating Helena High School in 1969 she continued her education in Designer College in Atlanta, Georgia. She then moved back to East Helena, Montana where she met her first husband James Redfern. They were married in August 1971. Jan gave birth to her first daughter Racheal on May 21, 1972. On March 5th, 1974 she moved to Washington state with Jerry. They were married on October 21st, 1974 in Denver, Colorado. On February 21st, 1977 they had their first daughter Charmaine. Then June 27th, 1979 their daughter Shawnna was born. Jan touched the heart of all those around her, especially through her long hard eight years of battling illness after illness. She started off getting sick in February 1997 learning that she needed a hysterectomy. So on May 27 1997 she had the surgery. Later finding out that she had a rare form of cancer called Leimyosaracoma. Once the surgery was complete the family felt at ease and thought that they were in the clear. However, how wrong that turned out to be later that year. The cancer had returned and was massing in the left pelvis area. So her and Jerry went to the University of Washington, later referred to as “The Resort”, and took treatment consisting of a combination of Chemo and Radiation twice a day. Successful removal of the tumor took place on August 6th 1998, by Ben “Dr. Greer”. Everything appeared to be fine until December 5th, 1998 when she returned to "The Resort" to start testing the Doctor's skills and expertise, which included 20 plus surgeries. The last major surgery was in November 2001. At this time, Dr. Diane Doerner, was now taking on the challenge of Jan’s treatment. Jan continued to visit "The Resort" proving all of the textbooks to be in error in regards to her condition, only managing to be at Lake Cushman less than 50 days in 5½ years. She enjoyed setting hospital records for the length of time and especially liked to beat her previous record set the year before. She was referred to by her grandson Devon as, “Grammy in the hospital”. Diane did a fantastic job all the way until the end and Jan could not have found a better doctor to be in charge of her care. The loving friendship was built all the way until the end. She always had a smile for a stranger, time for her friends, gossip for the nurses, challenges for the doctors and overflowing love for her family. She went into the hospital with a grandson on the way, Devon, and left with her fourth grandchild, a 2 month old granddaughter Cynthia, as the last one to see. Her strength, courage and spirit were never broken. She was a trooper even until the end. She made many friends during her battles and was an inspiration to all. She will surely be missed by those who knew her. And we all should be comforted to know that she is finally at peace and no longer in pain. It was remarkable to see all of the staff that paid their respects to Jan on her final days. It was nice to see all of the lives that she had touched in such a brief time. She was preceded in death by her father Clark Burnaby (Joe) Whitson and both sets of grandparents. Surviving are her husband, Jerry Whitson of Hoodsport; three daughters and their families, Rachael Wiedmeyer and her husband Matthew along with granddaughter Alexandria (Alli) of Michigan, Charmaine Hendrickson and her husband Nathan and grandson Samson and granddaughter Cynthia of Alaska, and Shawnna Whitson and her fiancé Derrell McDougald; and grandson, Devon of Olympia; her mother, Shirley McIntire of Townsend, Montana; her sister, Nancy Stepper and her husband Harold of Clancy, Montana; her brother, Steve Whitson of Portland, Oregon; and many aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, and nephews. The celebration of her life and a chance to admire her courageous rite of passage will be held Saturday, March 5th, 2005. Jan wanted this to be a casual event and therefore you should dress as such. She did not want people to remember her for her illness but for her strength and spirit. Those of us who were there through the trials and tribulations of her fight know the spunk that she possessed. How she loved to tease her doctors when a new challenge would arise. She had complete confidence in her doctors and enjoyed getting to know them. Throughout her battle the only change that she would have made would be to not have waited so long to have her hysterectomy. Other than that she did not seem to mind. Anytime that you asked her how she was feeling she would always say, “I’m Fine.” Jan liked romantic get-a-ways with her husband, motorcycle trips, scuba diving, boat riding, spending time with her family, working for CPI as a District Manager for Sears Portrait Studio and taking pictures of children. One of her favorite hobbies was ceramics. Whether she was cleaning, painting or firing it did not matter, this time seemed to relax her the most. She enjoyed talking about her grandchildren and seeing their pictures. She enjoyed life and all of the hurdles that came her way. She knew that God was testing her, because she could handle the challenge and as long as she believed she would be here until she was ready to leave. The only wish that she was not able to fulfill was to ride on the back of the Gold Wing with Jerry one last time, and look at all of the beautiful sights as Jerry drove and when she got tired to rest her eyes and sleep until they stopped.