Strange JW obituary, a Marshalltown acquaintance from years ago

by FatFreek 2005 5 Replies latest jw experiences

  • FatFreek 2005
    FatFreek 2005

    I'm pasting her obituary below following a Google search for her children's names. I was actually wondering whether she was still in the cult. According to the obit, she was when she passed some 3 years ago but I suspect she was still a fringe JW as I remember her in the 50's.

    Janet Keeler, as I knew her and her husband Buck, attended the Marshalltown, Iowa congregation when she was in her late 20's. I suspect Buck was in his mid 40's when they separated. He was assistant congregation servant and was stricken with some type of nerve disorder that left him paralyzed from the waist down. He moved to New Jersey and took up watch repair and I never saw him again.

    First thing you know and she had re-married, after moving to Iowa City, to a physician there. She had become an LPN. Gossip was that she wasn't getting her "marriage due" from husband Buck, therefore their divorce. I don't know about any disciplinary action from that congregation as it is 90 miles away.

    Janet was a smart gal, always thinking out of the box on certain issues. You'll notice that she was a member of the republican party alongside a member of the Watchtower Society. That's a strange alliance for a JW as I remember. But I've been out for 39 years. She also became well-educated -- good for her. Len Miller.

    Here's her obit


    Janet Louise Provan, (nee, Bartlett, Keeler, Greif), died on Jan. 22, 2013, in Auburn, Calif. at the age of 81. She had been successfully struggling with Alzheimer's disease for the past several years, but began to deteriorate quickly this past spring.

    She was born to Herbert and Ladonna (Crumbaugh) Bartlett on Oct. 26, 1931, below Mormon Ridge west of Albion. Doctor Noble, of Clemons, was the attending physician. She attended Hazel Green School, Monroe High School and Clemons High School. Much of her early life was spent living on Mormon Ridge where her father ran a saw mill and farmed. She was awarded an LPN by the University of Iowa's College of Nursing, Iowa City, an RN by Long Beach City College, Long Beach, Calif., and a Bachelor of Science, by the University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, where she also did graduate work in Anthropology. She was a member of the Waterloo Medical Auxiliary, P.E.O., the Republican Party and The Watchtower, Bible and Tract Society, keeping her an active and contributing member of each community in which she lived. She was born during the depression. She faced life directly, looking it straight in the eye as can be seen in this photo. She was rewarded with a full and eventful life.

    She is survived by her husband: William Provan of Auburn, Calif.; two sons: Allen Herbert Keeler, of New York, N.Y., and Daniel Lee (Helen Mikros) Keeler, of Martinsville, Va., a daughter: Sarah Lynn (Steve) Prekker (nee, Greif), of Plymouth, Minn.; two siblings: Joann M. Thatcher, of Alva, Okla., and William D. Bartlett, of Hubbard; a sister-in-law, Rena Bartlett (nee, Dixon), of rural Albion; seven grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and nine nieces and nephews.

    She was preceded in death by her grandparents: Ely and Amanda (Hamblin) Bartlett; Walter and Blanche (Peters) Crumbaugh; her parents; her older brother, James H. Bartlett; a sister-in-law, Barbara (Bobbie) Bartlett (nee, Funke); a brother-in-law, Charles O. Thatcher, her first husband: Hanford M. Keeler (Buck) and her second husband, Dr. Donald A. Greif. She was also preceded by two nephews: Kevin Michael Cagwin and Mica Charles Thatcher and a niece, Jacqueline Sue Thatcher (nee, Cagwin).

    Per her expressed wish, her remains were cremated. She will be memorialized at The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses near Auburn, Calif., on Feb. 23, 2013.

  • neat blue dog
    neat blue dog

    WAS a member, as in: at some point in her life.

  • Wild_Thing
    Wild_Thing
    WAS a member, as in: at some point in her life.

    "WAS" a member can be said of all active JWs and exJWs... after you are dead.

  • neat blue dog
    neat blue dog

    I meant was a member of the Republican party 😏

  • Wild_Thing
    Wild_Thing

    My bad, neat blue dog! But I guess the same can be said for that, too. We will all be a "Was" someday! :)

  • FatFreek 2005
    FatFreek 2005

    To me, being memorialized at a Kingdom Hall means the local bros considered her in good standing. That verb "was" therefore implied that she was all those things at the time of her death.

    Interestingly, the acronym P.E.O. could very well have stood for Philanthropic and Educational Organization for Women, what some folks consider a secretive group. Promoting education would fit Janet.

    I wonder if her last husband was a JW since the obit was probably written by him. I also wonder what role her older son had in perhaps the writing of the obit since it contained info that seems contrary to WT teachings. You see, we ran into the youngest son at a district convention in the late sixties and he couldn't wait to gossip about his older sibling's sexual orientation.

    Hey that's been many years ago and they could both be ex jws which I hope is the case. I also hope they share some family bonding today despite that moral fence.

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