Janice Wallace

She is survived by her sister Patricia Calhoun, children S. Casey Wallace of Shady Spring, and Jenny Wallace of Frederick, Maryland, married to Pete Cornish. She was preceded in death by, fittingly, the best Dad in the world, Clownie Wallace; her baby sister Debbie Bragg; and her parents Reva Garretson Midkiff and Theadore (Thead) Midkiff.

Janice moved to Coal City, WV around 1957, and lived there until she married in 1967. She met Clownie on a double date, and they married just a week after she graduated high school. Soon after, Clownie enlisted in the Navy, and Janice moved in with her brother-in-law and his wife, Gerry and Ruth Wallace. Once her sister Pat graduated high school, she and Janice got an apartment together in Maryland, where Clownie joined them after he was honorably discharged from the Navy. In 1974 they moved to Germantown, Maryland, where they raised their children in a tiny green house in the woods. Janice had several jobs; as a secretary, a negative cutter at Kodak, and operating her own house cleaning service. She also loved to garden, filling the porch and yard with as many flowers as she could get to grow in the poor soil and shade. Mostly, she was a mom, and an archer. Quickly tiring of being alone on weekends when Clownie competed in archery competitions, she learned how to shoot. She excelled at it, winning multiple local, state, and regional championships, in addition to five national championships, and placing third in the NFAA World Championship in her class - Adult Female Freestyle. She worked hard at it, practicing for hours during the summer at the 80 yard target that Clownie built behind the house. Once Clownie (finally) retired from the USPS, they moved back to West Virginia, into a house on her mother’s property in Shady Spring. Soon after, she began keeping her nephew Shane Bragg’s children before and after school several days a week. Avary and Audree Bragg are her honorary grandbabies, and she loved them fiercely from the time she got them when they were just a few months old until the day she passed. They were a light in her life when Clownie passed away after 42 years of marriage.

Janice would often say that she liked “animals, rocks, and wood.” Anyone who visited her home could see that was true. She loved collecting Native American art, animal and wooden sculptures, sea shells, and of course rocks. She even moved rather large rocks from Maryland to West Virginia, much to the dismay of everyone involved. They decorate her yard, which is still filled with as many flowers as she could manage to plant. Her favorite place was her front porch, sitting in her Granny Midkiff’s rocking chair, where she watched her six birdfeeders and fed the chipmunks endless peanuts. She valued comfort over style, she was quiet if she didn’t have anything to say, and she would help others tirelessly. She will be deeply and forever missed by those fortunate enough to be loved by her.

Visitation will be held at Blue Ridge Funeral Home at 1:00pm on Thursday, March 26th. Graveside service for family to follow at 2:00pm at Blue Ridge Memorial Garden. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Animal Wildlife Initiative.