Janice Y. Liegeois

Janice was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Johnnie Lee and R.G. Elsberry. Her parents had recently returned to the US after living in Japan as part of the US occupation after WWII and she was their first child. Since her father was in the U.S. Air Force, she grew up a military brat, living in many different places and moving often to different Air Force bases, such as Rome, New York (Griffiss AFB); San Angelo, Texas (Goodfellow AFB); Waco, Texas (James Connally AFB); Bossier City, Louisiana (Barksdale AFB); Gwinn, Michigan (K.I. Sawyer AFB); and Pordenone, Italy (Aviano AFB).

She graduated first in her class at Gwinn High School in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She went on to obtain a BS in Zoology from the University of Michigan, which is also where she met her husband, Richard. They were married the week that they graduated from college. Janice worked doing research at the University of Michigan until the birth of her first child. She returned to paid work when her kids were in Junior High and High School. At first, she worked part time as an Instructional Aide at Fryberger Elementary School. Over the next 28 years, she went from setting up some of the first computer labs in the elementary school where she worked in the 80s to being the Director of Technology and Information Services for Westminster School District for approximately 20 years until she retired in 2016. Her colleagues describe her as “a woman before her time,” “the start of everything technological at WSD,” calm, thoughtful, kind, generous, intelligent, humble, and compassionate.

In addition to her professional accomplishments, Janice was a loving mother, wife, and sister, a devout Christian, an artist, a world traveler, and a dog person. With her two kids, she raised silkworms, hosted “archeological digs” in the backyard, went camping, visited the library regularly, and cheered them on at many a swim meet, water polo game, ballet performance or piano recital. Over the years, she owned many very fluffy dogs: Old English Sheepdogs, Schnauzers, Lhasa Apsos, Cotons de Tulear, and Bolognaise. Janice painted on canvas and ceramics and did calligraphy. Especially after she retired, Janice was an avid gardener spending lots of time in her yard nurturing lilies, hydrangeas, wisteria, amaryllis, and many more. Janice doted on her grandchildren, driving them to far flung summer camps, reading to them, watching their sporting events, and taking them on a bucket list trip to Costa Rica. She was married to Richard for almost 54 years. She spent the last year and a half of her life caring for Richard every day after a tragic accident left him with a brain injury.

Janice was predeceased by her parents and her brother John Gregory Elsberry. She is survived by her husband Richard; her brother William Bradley Elsberry of Irvine, CA; her daughter Nona Randois of Los Angeles, CA; her son Paul Liegeois of Phoenix, AZ; and her four grandchildren Phoebe, Teagan, Rylan, and Jude.

Funeral Services for Janice will be held on Sunday, October 22 at Pacific View Mortuary & Memorial Park in Corona Del Mar, California. There will be a viewing at 1pm and a chapel service at 2pm in the Legacy Chapel with a graveside service to follow.