Janet Fay Booda Ross

Janet Fay Booda Ross – artist, photographer, pilot and world traveler – embarked on her greatest adventure yet on Thursday, November 6. She departed from Homeland Center in Harrisburg, her home base for the past four years.

Janet was born August 13, 1919 in Harrisburg to L. Leland Booda and Esther Harris Booda. Janet graduated from John Harris High School in 1937. Following high school, she completed a dental assistant course in New York City and secretarial school in Harrisburg.

She later worked at WKBO Radio in Harrisburg where she wrote commercials, and at Bell Telephone Company where she was an executive assistant. She spent over 30 years as an executive secretary at Merchants and Business Men’s Mutual Insurance Company.

Janet and her late husband, Loy Ross, married in May 1953. They enjoyed many adventures together and traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, the South Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. Both earned their pilot’s license and flew their own small plane – mainly around the Pennsylvania region.

Janet continued her adventures even after Loy’s death in 2001. In 2008, at age 88, she flew unaccompanied to New Zealand to spend three weeks traveling with her cousin, Michael Day, and his wife, Judy Pehrson, who were in New Zealand with students from Lebanon Valley College.

Janet was a woman of many talents. She had a beautiful alto voice and sang for 18 years in the choir at Market Street Presbyterian Church. She was also an artist and an award-‐winning photographer, who for years was a member of the Harrisburg Photography Club.

Most of all, though, Janet was a gracious, optimistic person whose oft-‐repeated mantra was “I try a lot, I don’t cry a lot.” Even after a fall in 2011 confined her to a wheel chair, she remained upbeat and cheerful.

She was predeceased by a brother, Larry Leland Booda, and his wife Maggie. Survivors include nephews Martin Booda (Picayune MS) and Loren Booda and partner Vickers Pope (Arlington VA). Surviving cousins include Michael Day and wife Judy (Lancaster PA), John Day and wife Gail (Moss Creek CA), Charles Booda and wife Betty (Lancaster PA), Carol Gingrich and husband Burl (Dallastown PA), and Bernice Hartz and husband Ken (Benson AZ).

A memorial service will be held Thursday, November 13 at 2 p.m. in the Homeland Center Chapel. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Homeland Center c/o Betty Hungerford, 1901 North Fifth St., Harrisburg 17102.