Janice Elmendorf Schmidt

Janice Elmendorf Schmidt, age 77, passed away on May 10, 2018, in Evansville, Indiana, due to complications from dementia. She is survived by her husband of 56 years, Thomas Schmidt; daughter Allison and her husband Josh Walters of Houston, Texas; son Christopher, and his wife Patricia of Delray Beach, Florida; grandson, Grant Walters of Houston, Texas; brothers, Samuel and his wife Tamara of Orange Lake, Florida, and Mark and his wife Catherine of Evansville; and many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, sister Gayle Williams, and first grandchild, Phillip Thomas Walters.

She was born March 21, 1941, in Evansville, Indiana, to Marguerite and Kenneth Elmendorf. She attended Highland and Stringtown primary schools, and Reitz High School for one year, then transferred to and graduated from North High School in 1959. She attended Evansville College for two years and was a member of Chi Omega sorority.

After Tom’s ardent pursuit and courtship of Jan, she said “No” the first time; they married in June 1961 at Salem United Methodist Church. The newlyweds moved to Gainesville, Florida, and attended the University of Florida where he completed his master’s degree and she graduated with her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry in 1963. Now Tom needed a PhD, so off to Tennessee they went.

The couple moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, where Tom pursued his PhD at the University of Tennessee while Jan worked at Oak Ridge National Labs from 1965-67. While there, she was one of the initial researchers striving to develop techniques to preserve cells through cryogenics. Although she worked with yeast cells at the time, this technology is now widely used to preserve human embryos.

It was in Tennessee where they purchased their first Beagles. It wasn’t long before Jan was bitten by the dog show bug, and began spending time in the show ring, pursuing championship titles for her dogs. What soon followed was the establishment of Windyroc Kennels, one of her life’s passions for over 50 years. She was a founding Supporting Member of the National Beagle Club in 1970 and also active as the Supporting Member Secretary of NBC from 2005 to 2012.

Some of her most celebrated champions were Ch. Windyroc’s Quarter Pounder, Ch. Windyroc’s Whiz Bang, and Ch. Reh-mont’s King of Swing.

In 1967, with their degrees in hand and Tom’s job offer at Phillips Petroleum, they moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where she established herself in the community for 25 years. Just a few of her activities included being a founding member of the Bartlesville Kennel Club, active in Little Theater, Service League, YWCA and held board positions in the Chi Omega alumni association for many years. One of her major accomplishments was receiving the Community Service Award of the Bartlesville Arts and Humanities Council in 1987.

After Tom’s retirement in 1992, they moved back to Knoxville, Tennessee, where he worked at Oak Ridge National Labs until 2003. While there, they were members of the Tennessee Valley Kennel Club for many years as she immersed herself in the Whippet breed and co-owned one of the top-winning Whippets, Ch. Raybar’s Rebecca JC. And Jan, always a thespian, applied as an extra for the film “October Skies.”

Finally, Tom and Jan returned to their hometown of Evansville, Indiana, in 2013. Once there, they became active again in their childhood church. Jan joined the choir and attended services as her illness allowed. Ever the social butterfly, she often met with her North High School classmates.

An amazing woman in life, in death she will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved her.

A remembrance visitation will be held on Tuesday, May 15th at Salem United Methodist Church, located at 6311 Kratzville Road, Evansville, Indiana at 10:00am. A memorial service will be held immediately following at 11:30am in the church sanctuary.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dementia Society of America by mail to P.O. Box 600, Doylestown, PA 18901 or online at www.DementiaSociety.org/donate, or Salem United Methodist Church.

Condolences may be made online at www.AlexanderNorthChapel.com.