Janet Etelka Shoff

My grandma,Janette Etelka Shoff, was born on November 15th 1944 in Long Beach California to parents Louis George Weir and Wilma Lane Downs. She is survived by her sister Joannie Icenogle, and nieces and nephews David, Darren, Darrel, Debby, and Deanne, her son Michael Lee Shoff, daughter in law Alma Rosa Mendoza Jr and her two granddaughters Ninna Janette Shoff (me) and my sister Izabelle Clarice Shoff.

Grandma attended Long Beach state University where she received a Bachelors Degree in Arts in 1968. She married the love of her life, my grandpa, Stephen Hapgood Shoff on October 5th 1968. They were blessed with 43 years of marriage! They started their life together in Norco California, and went on to have my uncle Mark Louis Shoff in November of 1973 and my dad Michael Lee Shoff in 1978. Grandma continued her education at RCC and became a preschool teacher until 1995 when she retired and moved to Mariposa California with her family.

Michael, my dad, eventually gave her a daughter in law and later two grandchildren in October 2002 and January 2007. She was meant to be a grandma through and through, she loved making cookies or my dad’s favorite blonde brownies. There was never a Christmas morning without Stalin bread even when she lived with us, she made sure to tell my mom how to make it. She made my dad an angel food cake for his birthday every year, and never let me go a year without making cookies and leaving a letter out for Santa. She cared about the little things. She was a great grandma and mom in the ways that really counted, she listened and she showed up. She would drive seven hours to come and celebrate my birthday every year. She was always there for my dad when he needed her and if she could have she would have been at every of my sister’s softball games and my singular cheer performance. She wasn’t a huge talker so I talked her ear off and she always listened. As she got older I really knew what she was thinking cause her facial expressions said it all.

Grandma lived a happy life and never failed to do good by her friends and family. She was a simple woman who never needed much, she was a t-shirt and jeans type of gal, all she needed was an iced tea and her Costco card and she was good. I don’t think I’d ever seen her put on perfume or makeup. She didn’t need any of it though, she was a natural beauty inside and out. Somehow my mom got her to like being pampered though, filing her nails, braiding her hair, drinking Starbucks and even smelling like lavender. These are the memories I will cherish forever.

While I was writing this eulogy I came across a bible verse that really spoke to me when thinking of my grandma.

Ecclesiastes 3:11-12 says: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.”

I want to share one last thing, a lyric from one of my favorite artists that says, “To lay to rest this mountain beauty that the Lords called home and I can see her up in glory I can see her through the pines” even though we will miss her, she’s finally home in the pines with her loves Stephen and Mark.