Born and raised Janis Meeh in Concord, she graduated from New Dorp High School. After she and James F. Kiernan were married, the couple settled in Ward Hill.
Mrs. Kiernan was a legal secretary for an attorney in Manhattan, but left the workforce in 1963 to become a homemaker and mother.
She treasured time spent with her family, especially her grandson.
Mrs. Kiernan was a member of the Staten Island Historical Society and Friends of Abandoned Cemeteries. She was a regular at the former Coffee & Tea Market in West Brighton, family said.
Surviving, along with James, her husband of 50 years, are her daughter, Sally Gulbin, and her grandson.
The funeral service will be Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in the Harmon Home for Funerals, West Brighton. Burial will follow in Woodland Cemetery, Silver Lake.
