Delores June Janes

November 12, 1932 – November 22, 2023

On the morning of November 22, 2023, Delores passed away peacefully in her sleep in her home in Wilsonville, Oregon. She was 91 years old.

Delores June Janes was born November 12, 1932, in Medford Oregon, to Jake and Ruby Arnold. In her early years, Delores lived in Medford Oregon on a pear orchard where she loved to walk up on the rafters in the barn. She went to school in Medford and graduated from Medford Senior High School in 1951.

Delores met Tommy Janes on a blind date. The story goes something like this – there were two Delores’ in her class and Tommy thought he was going on a date with “the other” Delores. Delores never let Tommy forget that little fact! It all worked out though, because after graduating from high school on a warm Friday night in June, Delores married Tommy the following Tuesday on June 26, 1951 in Central Point, Oregon. This began a union that would span over 68 years of marriage.

In September of 1950, prior to getting married, Delores attended a Billy Graham Crusade with her sweetheart Tommy Janes and Tommy’s brother and sister-in-law, Leonard and Wilda Janes. All four of them accepted the Lord at that event. The following week, while attending a Christian concert, Delores and Tommy felt the Lord calling them into full-time ministry.

Shortly after getting married, Delores and Tommy began their work in full-time ministry with the Free Methodist Church, a denomination with which they ministered for over 50 years in the Pacific Northwest. Their ministry began in 1951 in the city of Laurelhurst, Washington, followed by three years in Tahsis, British Columbia. They went on to pastor six more churches in Washington State which included Inglemoor, Richland, Hoquiam, Auburn, Yakima and Olympia. Delores was very active in ministry in all of the churches where they served. They were very much a pastoral team. Delores absolutely loved all her years serving the Lord alongside the love of her life, Tommy.

In addition to being an active pastor’s wife, Delores was an accomplished seamstress, making many clothes for herself and her family. When Tommy was elected to serve as Director of Christian Education and Evangelism for the Pacific Northwest Conference, Delores worked part-time at Fabricland where she taught many classes. She wrote and self-published two sewing books “Jeans for Every ‘Body’” and “Blazers for Every ‘Body’”. Mom was also very competitive. If you threw out a challenge, she was going to give it her all! This served her well with sales competitions at Fabricland, put-put golf or the game of “marbles” with her family, or Sunday School attendance contests throughout the Pacific Northwest Conference.

Delores was a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and was an integral part of their lives. She loved camping with her family, and so many wonderful memories were made during those vacations. She loved to laugh and loved a good joke.

Delores and Tommy retired from full-time ministry in 1995 and lived in a home they built up on the hill in Auburn, Washington. During their “retirement”, as a team they continued to serve as Interim Pastor for several churches in the Seattle area over the next eleven years. (Pastors and pastor’s wives never really retire.)

Delores loved to stay busy with sewing and knitting projects, such as knitting baby blankets for the local crisis pregnancy center.

In 2008, Delores and Tommy relocated to Wilsonville Oregon where she lived until she passed.

Delores was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas, her parents Jake and Ruby Arnold, her sisters Helen and Luella, her brother William and her daughter-in-law Phyllis.

She is survived by her son Greg of Puyallup, Washington, her Daughter Debbie (Jim) of Wilsonville, Oregon, five grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren and a host of beloved friends.

Delores was peacefully sleeping when she stepped into the presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She loved her Lord, she loved her family, and she loved people. She was deeply loved by those who knew her. We will miss her until one day we are reunited with her in heaven.