Janette Elizabeth Stanek

A Nebraska farm girl of the first generation of her family to go to college, Janette E. Stanek, 85, of Papillion, Nebraska was a public school teacher, mother, and artist who nurtured a community art center in Pocatello, Idaho. She died on May 28, 2024 at Hillcrest Health in Papillion, NE, after suffering strokes and dementia which required the need for memory support in her final year.

“Jan” was born in Minden on January 15, 1939, to farmers Herbert & Viola Swanson of Wilcox in Kearney County. She learned to drive a tractor at an early age, and had the wry sense of humor that runs in the family and state. (Sorry dear readers, but she did not pass that down to your humble scribe, her son.) One day out milking with younger brother Bobby, she gave the weather report when a tornado came thru, “Bobby, the shed is gone!” She and Cousin Johnny added feathers to corn cobs and threw them from the roof of the chicken coop like rockets. In her teens, a boy wanted to date her, but for the sake of first impressions, Bob advised her against letting him come to the farm because it “looked like a junk yard”, and so he rode along as she drove the pickup looking for a better place. She attended Wilcox Public School where she played the French horn. She enjoyed listening to the Metropolitan Opera over the radio on Saturday afternoons while reading their librettos to which she subscribed.

She attended the Nebraska State Teachers College in Kearney, now UNK, graduating in 1960. Her first job was at Ainsworth H.S. where she taught “vocational home economics” and Spanish. She continued her education in Spanish through study abroad in Valencia, Spain in the summer of 1961, and Tucumán, Argentina in the summer of 1963, experiences which deepened her appreciation for the worldwide family of God which she expressed by delighting in the diversity of people.

On August 23, 1963, she married fellow teacher, Alan Stanek of Denver, CO, who was hired shortly after her to be the band teacher. Some credit goes to the school superintendent for playing matchmaker. Says Alan, “I chased her until she caught me.”

She gave birth to a son, Michael, in Cozad in 1966 and to a daughter, Karen, in Hastings in 1968, where Alan had taken a job in the music department at Hastings College. She worked independently as a seamstress. She was active in conservation through the Audubon Society and wrote a letter to Kool-Aid (invented in Hastings) complaining that the dyes gave her children mustaches. The letter resulted in coupons for free Kool-Aid. The family was active in the Presbyterian Church, and friends with neighbors on their street. Dubbed the “7th Street Gang”, families such as the Locke’s, Storer’s, and Norman’s picnicked and camped together, sometimes at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM.

When Alan went to graduate school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Jan worked as a maid for a wealthy family.

For her own family she always had supper on the table at 6 pm, and the family rarely ate out and never ordered in. Pizza, fried chicken, cinnamon rolls, and cookies were always homemade. These impossible feats were taken for granted by her children who reserved their enthusiasm for “store bought cookies!”

With a Doctorate in Musical Arts from UM, Alan became Chairman of the Music Dept at Idaho State University in Pocatello, Idaho in 1976. Jan hosted dinner parties and was active in the Faculty Women’s Club, serving twice as president, and did a painting of its symbol, “The Blue Coffee Pot”. The family switched to the United Methodist Church. (UMC) Even though her own young children had no need for daycare, she helped found a nonreligious daycare center in 1977 that operates to this day at the First United Methodist Church, Tender Loving Care Child Care.

In 1979, Jan earned a masters degree in education - “exceptional child”, and taught special education for many years at Highland High School and other public schools until her retirement in 1999.

With her son active in Boy Scouts, she started a 4-H Club with her daughter in mind. Growing up, she’d been an active member, entering calves like “Brownie” at the county fair. Karen and other girls in the club attended fashion shows for their home sewn clothes, and Janette herself loved submitting items to the Bannock County and South East Idaho State Fair like oil paintings, canned, and baked goods. One of the outfits she sewed won the Grand Prize.

In retirement she began a long association with the Pocatello Art Center (PAC), taking classes, writing grants, managing and improving the building and the rental units above it. In 2006 she received the Mayor’s Award for the Arts.

Later, Jan wanted to return to Nebraska to be near her only grandchild, Amy Elizabeth Bremer of Papillion, and so they did in 2014. They would watch Mr. Bean and act out cartoons from the newspaper. Rather than kicking back, Alan & Jan replicated their volunteering and commitments, becoming members of St. Paul’s UMC. Jan volunteered at the public library. In 2019 her paintings were featured at the Papillion City Hall Art Gallery. She loved walking every day around Midland and Shadow Lakes, often with Karen & Ty’s Scottie dog, delighting in bunnies and red-winged blackbirds.

The family is grateful to numerous neighbors, friends and parishioners who helped in her last year, like Stephen Minister Julie Williams, neighbor Shari Devine, and her wonderful Hillcrest Hospice nurse, Jessica Dixon.

Janette was preceded in death by her little sister, Sara Jacobsen; brother-in-law, Elwood “Bud” Rostyne; and sister-in-law, Marilyn Stanek.

She is survived by her husband of 60 years, Alan Stanek of Papillion; son, Michael Stanek & Audrey Thomas of Chicago; daughter Dr. Karen & Ty Bremer of Papillion; granddaughter, Amy Bremer of Bellevue; sister, Jo Ann Rostyne of Sioux Falls, SD; brother, Robert & Vicki Swanson of Wilcox; sister-in-law, Carol Edwards of Modesto, CA; brother-in-law, Erwin Jacobsen of Palatine, IL; numerous adoring cousins including John Swanson of Lee’s Summit, MO; Sue Schoening of Oakland, CA; Gloria Swanson of Portland, OR; Sid & Mary Rose Swanson of Ceresco; and numerous adoring nieces & nephews including Crystal & Mark Kirgiss of West Lafayette, IN; Cami & Phil Miller of Lilburn, GA; Derek & Shae Jacobsen of Escondido, CA; Trevor Swanson of Wilcox; Ryan & Rebecca Swanson of Prosper, TX; Forrest & Jessica Swanson of Alma; Heather Swanson of Long Pine; and Colt Swanson of Wilcox; and many loving friends and former classmates including Rogene Baxter and Janet Podewitz of Minden; Marlene Larsen (Anderson) of Hastings; and from Pocatello, ID, Charlotte Creswell, Neila Loebs, and Donna & Roger Boe.

A memorial celebration and luncheon will be held at Paul’s UMC, 324 S. Jackson St, Papillion, NE 68046, on Monday, July 1, at 11:00 am, with visitation beforehand at 9:30 am. Jan’s ashes will be interred at the Wilcox Cemetery one mile from the family’s farm.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a scholarship Jan established at UNK for incoming students in health and STEM, from rural Franklin, Kearney or Phelps Counties, based on need.

Janette Swanson Scholarship Fund

https://nufoundation.org/fund/01143820/

Checks may be made out to the “University of Nebraska Foundation” with “Janette Swanson Scholarship” in the memo, and mailed to:

University of Nebraska Foundation

214 W. 39th Street

Kearney, NE 68845