I had the great honor of working with Janet many years ago when we worked at NESA.  I have just learned of Janet’s passing and my heart is so heavy with this news.  Janet was incredibly kind, loving and so generous of heart.   We had the chance to travel together to conferences in India and Africa and her love of travel and the joy she brought to our work family will never be forgotten .  Thank you Janet for your incredible kindness to a young girl so far from home.

Janet was one of my high school teachers. She was always thoughtful and concerned for her students and I have never forgotten her.  She made me feel special with her encouragement to always go after the things we wanted to achieve.  I am sincerely sorry to hear of her passing.

How difficult it is to no longer have you here on the receiving end of an e-mail, ready with a rapid, insightful response full of empathy and humor, or standing at my door on a suprise visit or on the other end of the phone with an unexpected call just to catch up.  My one true regret is that I will never have the chance to tell you how very much you have meant to me over the more than twenty years that I knew you, but in my heart, I know you were always aware of that.So my dear friend, go in peace, knowing that you were much loved and will be truly missed.With sincere condolences to Alexi and Pavlos and all the family. 

To the Family of Dr. Janet Hanna,
I was lucky to have been able to study with Dr. Hanna in Athens, Greece at Deree College.  She was an exceptional professor and I, as many of my friends, took any classes she taught.  I graduated and I continued to think about the lessons she taught and I share those lessons with my students, to this day.  I now teach high school in NYC, and have for 15 years, and I am a better teacher for having been a student to Dr. Hanna.  I was very saddened to hear of her passing and I wish you all strength.  Thank you for allowing me to share my memory.

I had the pleasure of knowing Janet here in Agia Paraskevi, Greece, many years ago when several of us met in each other's homes on a fairly regular basis to share our writing.   We were all teachers and busy with our jobs, meetings and families, but somehow, the four of us managed to take time for these special sessions.  

I will always remember Janet's love of her work, dedication to her students and devotion to her sons.  Her enthusiasm and humor both delighted and inspired us.

As we say in Greece, "may the soil that covers her be light."

Sincerely,
Giorgi Anna Fotinelli

I am  devastated by the unexpected loss of dear Janet. Janet was an excellent collegue, true friend,and great supporter and teacher to all of us.I remember our ¨get together momments¨, her funny comments, but most importantly her valuable advice. She  will be living in my heart. 
farewell dear Janet

Before Breughel the Elder

Work is a blessing
I tell you that, I - professional sluggard!
Who slobbered in so many prisons! Fourteen!
And in so many hospitals! Ten! And innumerable inns!
Work is a blessing.
How else could we deal with the lava of fratricidal love towards fellow men
With those storms of extermination of all by all
With brutality, bottomless and measureless
With the black and white era which does not want to end
endlessly repeating itself da capo like a record
forgotten on a turntable
spinning by itself
Or perhaps someone invisible watches over the phonograph Horror!
How, if not for work, could we live in the paradise of social hygienists
who never soak their hands in blood without aseptic gloves
Horror!
How else could we cope with death
That Siamese sister of life
who grows together with it - in us, and is extinguished with it
and surely for that reason is ineffective.
And so we have to live without end,
without end. Horror!
How, if not for work, could we cope with ineffective  death
Do not scoff!
which is like a sea,
where everyone is an Icarus, one of nearly seven billion,
while besides, so many things happen
and everything is equally unimportant, precisely, unimportant
although so difficult, so inhumanly difficult, so painful!
How then could we cope with all that
Work is our rescue.
I tell you that - I, Breughel, the Elder and I, for one, your modest servant, Wat, Aleksander - work is our rescue.

Farewell Janet. I will always remember all the great moments we shared in Greece and States.

Janet Hanna was a beloved teacher and a friend to all of us at the american college of greece who we had the privilege and joy to have been her students. I will never forget her. She was very kind and helpful to us all. I will miss her dearly. I was shocked to her that she passed away so tragically. Please accept my warmest and most sincere and heartfelt condolencies.

Thinking of Janet, her sparkle, her humor, her love of life, her ability to laugh at herself and make us all laugh, her writing and teaching talent, her love of music, the scrabble games we used to have back in the days when our kids were small. She touched the lives of us all. Janet, goodbye....

I met and dated Janet in the Fall of 1963, just before she went to OU at Athens.  I remember her fondly, and I wish her now the Peace that passes all understanding.

David M Wilson, originally of Bucyrus, Ohio.

I had the pleasure to know Janet when several of us here in Agia Paraskevi decided to meet and share our writing.  In those years, we were teachers who were busy with our classes, meetings and families, but took time to meet fairly regularly in each other's homes.  Although our sessions took place long ago, I remember with fondness Janet's positive energy, her kind but candid suggestions, her many talents, her devotion to her sons, and her love of her work, family and friends.

As we say in Greece, "may the earth that covers her be light."

Sincerely,
Giorgi Anna Fotinelli

It wasnt until years after having started teaching at the American College of Greece that I met Janet up close in the choir of the college.  I always regret not having met her earlier.  She greatly contributed to the liveliness and the feeling of togetherness in the various musical productions and events put on in those years at the college and her enthusiasm on all of those occasions will always stay with me, as I would imagine it will with the students in those productions.
Ill never forget her bringing over a songbook at some point and sitting down together to the piano to sing and play old songs which she knew extensively.  In the months before she left Athens we spent some time again at her piano, singing and discovering that we had come from quite similar religious backgrounds back in the U.S.  Janet spoke so fondly of the music that her Mom used to play at the organ at church which inevitably led her to participate in choir again later in life. 
Upon leaving the college, we felt an immense loss of a friend full of passion and considerable energy.  
I will truly miss Janet  and send out my heartfelt sympathies to her family and her sons whom she adored so much.   

Dahlgren Ekonomides

My sincere condolences to the family of Janet Hanna. I knew Janet when she was teaching at the American College of Greece.
She was inspiring to me both as a colleague as also as a human being. I will remember her most fondly!

Dear Alexi and Pavlo,
I don't really have words to help get us through this terrible time. I just wanted to tell you that I have been with you both in my thoughts all this week. I know Janet was very proud of you both. She would have approved of all the arrangements that have been made this week, particularly the idea of a 'celebration' of her life. It occurred to me that she would have been the one to say something funny and make us all laugh. I will remember her for her sense of humor and for being a very rare friend. I will miss her.

Janet Hanna was a wonderful teacher, mentor, and friend, I was so lucky to be
in her Spanish and English classes in her first teaching position at Shade High School outside of Athens, Ohio, she inspired me to reach beyond and always do my best, she encouraged me to go to college, which I did.  Her help
during my freshman year at Ohio University gave me the push to keep going.  I went on to obtain my Master's
and later my Doctorate--goals I believe
I would never had attempted without Miss
Hanna as I fondly remember her telling
me I could achieve whatever I wanted by
believing in myself.
I am saddened that I never had the opportunity to let her know that a number of us from Shade succeeded to go on to wonderful professions because she
helped us believe in ourselves!
May her family find comfort in knowing
she is at peace and in Our Father's arms.
Dr. Carrie Ator-James
Library Director, Hocking College

Sally and family,  Thinking of you with sympathy at the loss of your sister and David.  I don't think I remember your sister, but wanted you to know I'm praying for your family at this time.
May memories be a comfort and give you peace. Tonya Fike

Agaphmenoi mou Alexi kai Pavlo,

Just wanted to let you know that I am thinking of you all the time and am praying you will find the strength to make it through these difficult days.

Please kiss my friend goodbye for me and ask her to look after my Kyriakos up there.

I knew Janet thru the Ritz Players.  She always amazed me with your wit, talent and beauty.  She's one great role model.

Janet was a colleague at Deree College and a good friend for nearly fifteen years. We shared so many coffees and cigarettes back in the early 1990s and never once did she make me feel the great distance between us: in knowledge and in expertise, in wit and in grace. 
She was the students' favourite teacher because she was creative, warm and funny. She was a mentor, I realized later, though she never tried to be anything more than her gifted self. 
The sound of her heels still echoes in these corridors--I simply cannot think of her as no longer in our world, making people laugh in her own special way. 
For all of us, teachers and students at the American College of Greece,  who were lucky enough to know her, she is very much alive.

Janet was one of the most extraordinary people I came in contact with during my years as a student at Tiffin University.  I initially met her as an advisor and soon befriended her younger son Pavlos.  She grew to be one of my mentors, especially when I was having a hard time adjusting to American culture.  She was always warm, patient and funny.  She had an opinion on everything and I remember many a night at her apartment in Tiffin sparring about the current state of the world over a hot meal.  We had an incredible time when she visited us in London.  She was a kind soul and touched the lives of all she came in contact with.  She was never too busy to lend a sympathetic ear or a helping hand.  It still seems surreal that I will never hear her tell another story or stir up another passionate debate.  I love you Janet, and you will be sorely missed.

Janet will always remain in my memory as a generous, energetic, full of positive attitudes about life person, an imaginative teacher, a loyal friend, and a wonderful mother. I probably have never thanked her enough for her presence in Room 535, but I think she knew what she meant to me.
  As a colleague and office mate of hers, I would like to express my most sincere condolescences to her family, especially to her two sons, Alexi and Pavlo.

My warmest condolences for a wonderful colleague and dear friend

Janet was one of the loveliest people I knew. I was a student of hers for four years, during which she taught me many valuable lessons about literature and life. When embarking on my own academic career, she was a tremendous help and offered me valuable insights. I will never forget her kindness, creativity, good humour and zest for life. She will be missed dearly. May God rest her soul.

I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to Dr Hanna's family. As one of her old students, I will always remember her unique sense of humour which added a special tinge to the literature courses she taught us, making the learning process a joy for us who took her classes. Her brave and smiling way when facing difficulties will always remain an inspiration for me.

I wish to extend my condolences to the families of Janet and David.  I am a cousin of Janet's mother, Margaret, and was just notified of their tragic deaths by Janice John.  While our family has not gathered at reunions for many years, I remember some good times together in years past - many held at Margaret and Norm's home outside Tiro.  I am closer in age to Janet and Marilyn, and played more with them than my first cousins.  

I hope that the memories of good times together in the past sustain you in this time of grieving.

Paul

Dirge without Music

Edna St. Vincent Millay

I am not resigned to the shutting away 
of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, 
for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely.
Crowned With lilies and with laurel they go; 
but I am not resigned. 
Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains, --- but the best is lost. 

The answers quick & keen, the honest look,
the laughter, the love,they are gone. 
They have gone to feed the roses. 
Elegant and curled Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. 
I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes
than all the roses in the world. 

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

I will light a candle for you Dr. Hanna
 
You will be greatly missed and you will always be in my heart.

We are  sorry for your loss.  May God be with you at this difficult time.

Janet, I will miss our wonderful filled talks. We became quite close in friendship, during our brief 2 years, and as they say "Only your Hairdresser Knows" and truely I found out, just how special you were and how fulfilling life had been for you and your 2 boys. Knowing, you had an app. would make my day! I sure will miss you, Love and Tears, Jeannette

Janet Hanna was a beloved colleague at The American College of Greece and one of my dearest friends. My love, sympathy and prayers go out to her family, especially her boys, Pavlos and Alexi. We here in Greece who knew and loved her are simply inconsolable. Kalo taxidi Janet mou.

My last image of Janet was when she returned to Greece this past fall 2007 with David and I saw the two of them walking down the main street of her old neighborhood in Agia Paraskevi, hand-in-hand. Although my urge was to run up & greet her, I respected the loving moment that this couple was evidently sharing.  They looked like young children, beaming as they walked.  
That's the way most of us will likely remember Janet - smiling, laughing happy! She could always offer her good will and wit and make others forget their difficulties.
She will be sorely missed.

Sincerest condolences from a former student of Janet Hanna. I am deeply sorry for your loss. She was a wonderful professor and person, and I will always treasure the memory of her and her highly stimulating classes. 
May she rest in peace.
Alex

I was one of Dr Hanna's students at the American College of Greece 13 years ago, where I am currently employed. I was profoundly sad to hear the news about her tragic loss. I have the fondest memories of her, her wit, sense of humor, and love for her students.
I would like to pay my condolences to her family. may God rest her soul.
Aggelos Chatzopoulos

I knew Janet only through her handouts that she left behind at Deree College. Yet much could be discerned about the person behind them. I was startled by the methodology, organization, and pedagogical insight these handouts exemplified. I knew then what I had to do as a new arrival. Jannet will always be remembered as The Teacher.

We were very sorry to hear of Janet's loss. We will always remember her warm and vivid personality.
Condolences to her two sons and sister.

I would like to send my condolences for the sad loss of a wonderful person and teacher. She was my teacher at Deree College and I was really shattered to hear of her death. She will be greatly missed...

OBITUARY

Janet Hanna

January 1, 1942 – January 12, 2008

Wappner Funeral Directors Mansfield

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