Sylvia M. Jander

Sylvia was born April 16, 1929, in Mount Kisco, N.Y. to Henry Bernard Jander Jr., a first-generation German-American builder, and Ann Hughes, a Welsh-American teacher and writer. Sylvia lived in Pleasantville, N.Y., until her family moved in 1934 to Westport, Conn. She lived on a 7-acre farm with her parents and three brothers, where she raised chickens and milked cows. In 1944 her family moved to Tangier Island, Va., an historic fishing community first explored by Capt. John Smith in 1608. Ann Hughes Jander later wrote "Crab's Hole," a memoir of the family's life on the island. Henry Jander helped bring reliable electricity to the island and her mother taught English and piano.

Sylvia attended the Northfield School for Girls, Northfield, Mass., while her younger brothers Owen and Mark attended Mount Hermon School, an intense educational experience which influenced all of them greatly. All three were lifelong supporters of the schools. Sylvia graduated from Northfield in 1947.

As a nursing student at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Sylvia met a medical student, Allan L. Armstrong. They married on Sept. 10, 1949. Because of university rules, having married, Sylvia was forced to drop out of school. Many years later she finished nursing school, graduating from Bridgeport Hospital Nursing School in 1974.

Sylvia had four children, Marcia, Janet, Helen and Michael, all born in Charlottesville, Va. With her two oldest children she lived at Clark Air Force Base, Philippines, with Allan while he served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. The family lived in Charlottesville on the Blue Ridge Tuberculosis Sanatorium grounds, where Allan was a staff physician.

In 1958 the family moved to Tampa, Fla., where Allan also was a staff physician at a TB hospital. A member of the First United Church of Christ, Tampa, in the early 1960s with other church women she formed the Progressive Integrated Eaters, a multiracial group of women who attempted to desegregate Tampa restaurants.

On Nov. 22, 1972, she married her second husband, Vinton Mitchell, a New York banker, living in Westport. After becoming a registered nurse, she worked in the neonatal unit at Bridgeport Hospital, Connecticut. After Vinton's death in 1986, she retired and moved in December 1987 to Keene, N.H., living near her daughter and son-in-law, Janet and Woody Shook, and their children.

A loving grandmother, she was called Nain, the Welsh word for "grandmother." Living near grandchildren in Keene and Boston, she welcomed them and their parents into her home frequently and joyfully, especially for holidays.

With children and grandchildren in Anchorage and Homer, Alaska, Sylvia traveled more than 30 times to Alaska over the years. Her Alaska grandchildren remembered Nain also came bearing small gifts in her "Nain bag." Her last visit to Alaska was in July 2012 for her granddaughter Anna's wedding.

Sylvia was an active member of First United Church of Christ, Tampa, and later Keene United Church of Christ, New Hampshire, singing in church choirs. At Keene she also was an active member the women's fellowship and the visitation committee.

Sylvia believed strongly in international relations at the personal level, and was an active member of AFS Intercultural Programs in Tampa, serving as chapter president and as a host mother to students from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Port Elizabeth, South Africa. She formed a lifelong, special relationship with Mee Ling Loong of Kuala Lumpur. Some of her children and grandchildren also lived and studied abroad. Sylvia loved traveling, particularly with her brothers and their spouses, and visited Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan and Malaysia.

Surrounded by music as a child, she played the piano and sang, imparting a love of music to her children. On long car trips, the family passed the time singing, and kept several dog-eared copies of the Girl Scout music book in the car. A Girl Scout herself, Sylvia also was a Girl Scout leader in Tampa. Having taken several long camping trips as a child, Sylvia passed on her love of camping and nature to her children.

Sylvia also believed in the values of education and reading. She made sure her children had access to books, taking them weekly to bookmobiles and libraries. It was no accident that all four of her children not only graduated college, but also received master's degrees and one doctoral degree.

She also loved opera, musicals and the theater. On summer vacations to Longboat Key, Fla., the trip always included a play at the Asolo Repertory Theatre, Sarasota. Sylvia also sang in community theater. The family home was filled with music, with a stereo almost always on and playing everything from classical to Broadway show tunes to Gilbert and Sullivan.

"Mom lived a life of caring and consideration, not only for family but for friends and community members. When her mother, Ann Jander, became ill, Mom nursed her in their Tampa home, helping her mother to die peacefully and with dignity. While not materially wealthy, she gave through gifts of time, love and compassion," her children said.

A small family service was held July 19, 2015, at her daughter's home in Westmoreland, N.H.

A musical tribute in celebration of her life will be held in the United Church of Christ, 23 Central Square, Keene, on Friday, July 24th at 3:30PM. Family and friends are welcome.

Sylvia was preceded in death by her parents; both husbands, Allan L. Armstrong and Vinton Mitchell; and her brothers, Kent Jander, Mark Jander and Owen Jander, as well as her sister-in-law, Nancy Jo Jander. Her brothers Mark and Owen also died in 2015.

She is survived by her daughters, Marcia Armstrong of Brookline, Mass.; Janet Shook and her husband Woody Shook of Westmoreland, N.H.; Helen Armstrong and her husband Charlie Barnwell of Anchorage, Alaska; and her son, Michael Armstrong, and his wife Jenny Stroyeck of Homer, Alaska; grandson Micah Shook and his wife, Debbie, of Norfolk, Mass., and their children Declan and Cameron; grandson David Sheen, of Gaithersburg, Md.; granddaughter Alana Cote and her husband Chase Cote and their children Logan and Reese of Clifton Park, N.Y.; grandson Andrew Sheen of Allentown, Penn.; granddaughter Anna Barnwell and her husband Øistein Stokke-Berget of Trondheim, Norway; and granddaughter Heidi Barnwell of Anchorage; her sisters-in-law Joan Jander of Placitas, N.M., and Eleanor Armstrong of Atlanta, Ga.; her brother-in-law Eugene Cox of Wellesley, Mass.; and many nieces and nephews.

Memorial donations may be made to the Jander Scholarship Fund, Northfield-Mount Hermon School, One Lamplighter Way, Mount Hermon MA 01354, and the Tangier Island Health Foundation, P.O. Box 788, Irvington, VA 22480.