Janet Alexander Wood

November 13, 1931 - Dec. 19, 2024

Janet was born in St. Louis, to parents Janet Holmes Alexander and Harry Louis Alexander, a physician and Prof. of Medicine at Washington University. Her younger brother, Andy, was born with significant developmental disabilities, a condition that made Janet sensitive and supportive of people with developmental challenges throughout her life. Her half-siblings, Beverly and Louis, were family that were increasingly important and involved in her life as an adult.

She graduated from the John Burroughs School in St. Louis and attended Bennington College, where she met her husband, Richard Wood, whom she married in 1951. She and Woody had a peripatetic existence in their early marriage; she worked in advertising and marketing while Woody served in the army.

Son Robert arrived in 1955; Karen appeared on the scene in 1957. By then the family was living in Granville Ohio, where Woody was a research chemist for Owens Corning, and Janet was free to pursue artistic inclinations, painting, sculpting, weaving, jewelry making and supporting the local art association.

During their years in Granville, she was a writer and production manager for the Granville Sentinel, a 5th grade teacher, and a founder of the Granville Recreation Commission.

When Woody retired and bought a catboat too big for Ohio, they decamped to the south shore of Rhode Island, where Janet became increasingly involved in the community of weavers and textile artists. When the wheels started coming off and Woody came ashore, they moved to the Portland, Oregon area, where their daughter Karen resides.

Over the next eight years, Janet was an active member of the Miramont Pointe community, serving as the community’s librarian, delighting in trips to the theatre and art museums and raising occasional hell. Her hats were legendary, her halloween costumes were unmentionable, and her weekly practice of posting cartoons from the New Yorker on her door were appreciated by staff.

She is survived by her son, Bob (Nina), daughter Karen (Rob Brading) and a number of nieces and nephews.