Janet Louise Meinke

Born July 26, 1947 Died May 25, 2024

Janet was born at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lincoln to Vernon and Korleen (Allen) Brandt. She lived with her family on a farm a few miles west of Denton where she attended District 70 one-room school in Lancaster County. When she was nine years old, the family bought and moved to their farm southeast of Milford, where she attended the one room Camden School through 8th grade. She attended grades 9-12 in Crete, graduating in 1965. She and her cousin/friend Jackie Patak moved to Lincoln where they worked briefly at the State Capitol. In July of 1966, she married Dolyn Meinke and they moved to Biloxi, Mississippi where he was stationed in the United States Air Force. After being discharged from the Air Force, they moved back to Nebraska and lived in Lincoln. She found a job with Nebraska Game and Parks. Their daughter Kristin was born in 1970. In 1971, the family moved to land east of Crete, where they lived in the basement of their new home as they built the rest of the house around them. Their son Jeffrey was born in 1973. After Jeff entered kindergarten, she began working at Crete Mills/Bunge Milling where she stayed from 1979 till retirement in 2013. In 1989, she moved to a home southeast of Milford, just a half mile from the house where she grew up. She remained in that home until November of 2023.

Janet had a true love for life and was always active, including much of her last couple weeks, where the challenge was keeping her in her wheelchair. She admired the beautiful sunsets that she could see out her west window. She enjoyed the country life and watching the seasons pass with the growing and harvesting of the crops in the nearby fields. She loved walking the fields after harvest, always keeping an eye out for arrowheads. One of her greatest loves was attending her grandkids' many activities, whether in her 'GRANDMA' stadium chair, following at a Cross Country meet, or attending band concerts, high school musicals, and ATA. She loved hosting hot dog roasts at her place with crock pots lining the workbench in the Morton building, followed by conversation and a couple heated games of badminton. She had a love of traveling and she enjoyed trips to South Dakota, Colorado, New York City, and Boston with her kids as well as visiting Alaska, California, and the Gulf Coast with Carla and Rod. The last few years she often said that 'she'd been north, south, east, and west, and that she'd seen everything that she wanted to see.' On Saturdays in the fall, you could bet she was somewhere in her Husker shirt, cheering on her Huskers. Evenings would find her cross-stitching and nearly every milestone in a family member's life would be celebrated with one of her cross-stitched gifts. She enjoyed the daily crossword puzzle in the paper. And she had a great interest in local history, especially the Camden and Denton areas. But her family was her biggest love. Children, grandchildren, siblings, aunts and uncles were her greatest joy. And she very often spoke of the never ending love she had for her parents.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Vernon and Korleen Brandt; brother Arlen Brandt; many special aunts, uncles, and cousins; and best friend/cousin Jackie Skillman.

Janet is survived by daughter Kristi (John) Reitz; son Jeff (Jennifer) Meinke; sister Carla (Rod) Hartl; sister-in-law Donna Brandt; grandchildren Abbie (Kelby) Feddern, Garrett Reitz, Isaac Meinke, Devon Reitz, Elliott (Mattie) Reitz, Aaron Meinke, and Jacob Meinke; Dolyn Meinke; along with many nieces and nephews.

Services will be held at Lincoln Memorial with a visitation on Thursday, May 30 from 5:00-7:00 pm; funeral service on Friday, May 31 at 2:00 pm. Memorials designated to the Camden Cemetery.