Janice Gordon Obituary

Janice K. Gordon

May 12, 1934 - Nov 4, 2024

Sandusky

Janice (Konas) Gordon quietly left this earth and reached into the sky Monday, November 4, 2024, at Taylor Place Assisted Living in Findlay. For all the spunk and sauce that she had, her fragile body could no longer fight illness and dementia. She lets go the hands of her daughters, Kristin and Kathryn, who will always love her.

With dark hair and sweet blue eyes, Janice turned the heads of those who turned heads. Born May 12, 1934, to the late Charles and Julia (Frost) Konas in bucolic and modest Rocky River, she grew her love of family, friends, nature, and sports along with her older brother Roy. She was the apple of her father's eye in a time when father knew best and spent many cold Sundays under a Pendleton blanket with her dad to watch the Browns at Municipal Stadium. She wore spectator shoes, hats, and gloves in the style of the day but would smoke cigarettes at slumber parties and sneak into Wagar Beach at midnight with friends in her small acts of rebellion. She played alto saxophone, was a majorette, and enjoyed every moment of her time with friends and classmates at Rocky River High School before graduating in 1952.

She attended Ohio State University to become an x-ray tech and was a member of Delta Gamma Sorority. With friends and admirers, she wore elegant dresses to formal dances that are forever captured in black and white photos in now tarnished frames. Her future was already full of opportunity when she met Paul (Sandy) Gordon on a boat in Lake Erie, whom she eventually married in 1959. A few years later, they landed in Sandusky, where Sandy would take over a veterinary practice, and the two would start a new life.

One, two, three children – Kristin, Scott, and Kathryn came along the way, and the house on Hayes Avenue was full of love, laughter, and hope. When the unimaginable happened to dear Scott, Janice and Sandy fought for and with him against cancer, a foe that was inevitably too formidable. With broken hopes and incomplete dreams, she carried on the best she could under the shadows that life cast on her. Sweet, resilient, sassy and overprotective, she was the ballast of the family ship that now without her must find its new course with her lessons in the wind.

Over decades, Janice continued to find joy in summers at Catawba Island Club with her family, working at the Sandusky Library, and in her faith and service to St. Stephen United Church of Christ. She loved to sing along with Neil Diamond and Andy Williams, join in chorus singing in the church choir, cheer on the Buckeyes, and care for oh so many pets, but what brought her most joy was her grandchildren, Julia and Cayden. She leaves behind her daughters and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and numerous friends, all of whom she adored and judged in classic Janice style. Though heartbreak roughened her edges, Janice loved us all the best she could, and we loved her back. She is now surrounded and embraced by those she loved so much who passed before her – Roy, Scotty, her parents, and her Sandy. You're free, now, Momma.

A Celebration of Janice's Life is scheduled at 1 p.m. Friday, January 31, 2025, at Pfeil Funeral Home, Sandusky Chapel, 617 Columbus Avenue, Sandusky, with the Reverend Jerald Fenske presiding.

As were her wishes, she was cremated and will be interred at Sunset Memorial Park in North Olmsted in a small family gathering of respair in the spring. Gifts in her honor and memory can be made to Humane Society of Erie County, 1911 Superior Street, Sandusky, OH 44870, Back to the Wild, P.O. Box 423, Castalia, OH 44824, Victory Kitchen, P.O. Box 2593, Sandusky, Ohio 44871, or a conservation charity of one's choice.

Condolences may be shared with the family at pfeilfuneralhome.com.