Janet B Frost

Janet Marie Beem Frost entered the loving embrace of her Savior, Jesus Christ on Saturday, February 18, 2023. Devotion is the word that marks her life. Devotion to faith, family, and community. A devotion marked not merely by words, but by action. A devotion that was ever in service, ever humble, and ever driven by a heart for the underdog and the disadvantaged. She is best known to generations of Maconites via her weekly radio and television appearances as "Jan Frost of Volunteer Macon."

Born in Youngstown, Ohio on October 6, 1933, Jan grew up in Portland, Maine, the youngest of three children of the late Edgar Allen and Marie Ritter Beem. Janet enjoyed a strong sibling bond with her late brothers Al and Gordon, who served as Jan’s pals and protectors during their growing-up years. Jan excelled in academics at Portland's Deering High School, where she was selected for the National Honor Society based on her "outstanding character, leadership, service, and scholarship." She graduated with honors in the Class of 1951.

Jan earned a degree in English Literature from Middlebury College in 1955, after which she returned to Portland, where she had begun a courtship with Edwin Brant Frost III. Brant had graduated from Deering High just three years ahead of Jan and was an officer in the U.S. Army, stationed in El Paso, Texas. While home in Portland on leave, the two met at Higgins Beach on the coast of Maine. Brant launched a campaign to win her heart --- and always credited a strong assist from Jan's mother (Marie Beem) with the success of that crusade. That campaign culminated in their July 1955 wedding. They were married 57-years until Brant's sudden passing in 2012.

The two Mainers made their first home in Gordon, Georgia, where Brant had landed a job in the paper industry. They brought six children into the world: twin daughters Anne and Kimberly, who died in infancy, and four sons, Brant IV, Fred, Ben, and Chris.

In 1958, Jan and Brant moved to Twin Oak Drive in Macon, Georgia, where Brant began designing a house to be constructed on that same street. In 1959, 4673 Twin Oak Drive became the Frost home and remained so for over 60 years. There they reared four high-spirited sons whose youthful exuberance at times gave way to boneheaded moves and occasionally turned the family home into an indoor athletic field, golf course, launch site, dueling ground, and wrestling arena. Whether containing the boys' rowdiness, serving as a first responder to the emergencies they created, or managing the everyday chaos they brought into the world, Jan earned her stripes in motherhood. At a celebration commemorating their 40th wedding anniversary in 1995, Brant toasted Jan with an authenticity that reflected his utter admiration and gratitude for the amazing mother of his children, his partner in life, his one true love. And, like the children of Proverbs 31: 28, all four sons rose up and "called their mother blessed."

Soon after moving to Macon, Jan and Brant became founding members of St. Francis Episcopal Church, serving in an extraordinary number of ways and growing in faith with the people of that parish. A 1972 Faith Alive renewal weekend profoundly impacted their faith and the family. Jan went on to become a founding member of Daughters of the King, serving as president of the chapter as well as a Delegate to Council, Evangelism Chair, and Episcopal Churchwomen Chair. She was an active volunteer in the Altar Guild for decades. Jan was blessed to be a part of the faith and love of that church for 63 years of joyful and faithful worship and service. She attended her last service there on February 5, 2023. She was the last surviving founding member at St. Francis.

Jan's faith was not limited to Sundays or the church grounds. She took her devotion out into the world with service on the Boards of Directors of Loaves and Fishes Community Center, Family Counseling Center, Timmy Turtle Nursery for learning disabled children, and the Women's Career Network, and on the Executive Board of the Junior Women's Club, as well as serving as a hostess for Welcome Wagon and a member of the Museum Guild.

In 1974, that devotion to service led to Jan's becoming the first Executive Director of Volunteer Macon, a new non-profit organization whose mission was to provide a way for individuals to serve community needs through volunteering ---- the beginning of a vocational journey Jan would dub her "joyful ministry." Jan brought big ideas and great administrative and people skills to this important work. She spearheaded recruiting, training, and development for thousands of volunteers and expanded the work to satellite operations on nearby college campuses. Under Jan's leadership, Volunteer Macon recruited and placed 28,057 volunteers in 682,405 hours of community service, touching the lives of tens of thousands of the most vulnerable in central Georgia. The Georgia Association of Volunteer Agencies recognized Jan's leadership and contributions, presenting her with the June Sammons Award for the Outstanding Executive Director in the State of Georgia for a Volunteer Agency.

In expressing her thanks to the crowd at her 1999 retirement gala, Jan said, "God has been so good to me . . . through each of you and many more, God has blessed me with every good and perfect gift imaginable, far beyond deserving. Thanks be to God!"

Jan was a patriot, an Atlanta Braves fan, and a Georgia Bulldog football devotee. A true daughter of Maine, she treasured sailboats, lighthouses, L.L. Bean, and lobster rolls. But she relished telling people about Macon, Georgia, ever an ambassador for the city she served. She loved her adopted city of Macon and being a Southerner. An atomic bomb could not have blown her out of Macon, even after Brant died.

Jan remained an adventuresome spirit to the end. As an octogenarian, she delighted in going down Colorado's white-water rapids on a river raft with her ever-faithful niece, Shelley Sampson - and summer sailing on Lake Michigan surrounded by sons and grandchildren.

In 2019, Janet moved to Carlyle Place, where she remained connected with cherished friends and continued to enjoy life's simple pleasures, like Friday dinners with her Jim Shaw's group (including Marcia and Preston Aldridge, Gail and Ranny Moulton, Mary and Tom Hinson, and others), faithful visits from them and longtime friends like Gwen Ridley, Jane Brooks, and Tom Scholl among many others, and travels with niece Shelley Sampson, who served as a faithful companion on family get-togethers in Jan's later years. Though her physical body succumbed to age and frailty, Jan's enduring faith did not wain through her final day, strengthening her and those around her with the blessed assurance of an eternity with Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of her life.

Like the virtuous woman of Proverbs 31, Jan lived a life of devotion. She was a champion for the underdog and the disadvantaged, a voice for those not present to speak for themselves, and a living model of humility. Like her beloved mother before her, Jan leaves a legacy -- a legacy of devotion to her faith, her family, and her community.

Jan is survived by four sons and daughters-in-law and fourteen grandchildren: Brant IV and Krista Frost (Newnan, Georgia) and their children, Brant V, Katie, Caroline, Lizzie, and Abbey; Fred and Kem Frost (Houston, Texas) and their four sons, Thompson, Frederick, Stephen (Nashville, Tennessee), and Jonathan; Ben and Molly Frost (Marietta, Georgia) and their daughter and son-in-law Claire and Zack Ferer (Cumming, Georgia) and son Benjamin (Atlanta, Georgia); and Chris and Anna Frost (Bristow, Virginia) and their three sons, David, Adam, and Abel. Jan also leaves many extended family members, including nephews Ed Beem, Paul Beem, Dana Beem, Mark Beem, Stewart Sonneland, Andy Sonneland, Peter Sampson, and Jeff Sampson and nieces Mimi Beem Herald, Robin Sonneland Slocum, and Shelley Sampson.

A memorial service celebrating Jan's life will be conducted at eleven o'clock in the morning on Thursday, the 30th of March, 2023, at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 432 Forest Hill Road, Macon, Georgia 31210. For those unable to attend in person, the service may be viewed live via the St. Francis Facebook page and YouTube Live channel. Immediately following the service, all are invited to join the family in the St. Francis Church Fellowship Hall for a lunch in celebration of a life well lived.

As a member of St. Francis, Jan developed a special commitment to Haitian Hope Ministries. In lieu of customary remembrances, gifts in her memory may be dedicated to Haitian Hope at https://www.christchurchmacon.com/give/ (mark your Memorial Fund gift with the Memo "Jan Frost-Haitian Hope") or by mailing a gift to Haitian Hope, P.O. Box 7326, Macon, Georgia 31209.