Remembering Jan Groenveld

by Sunspot 17 Replies latest jw friends

  • Sunspot
    Sunspot

    I was just reading the "12 Steps" thread and decided to start a new thread to give those of us who "knew" her-the chance to say what they'd like to share with all our Newbies.

    When I was in the process of knowing what the WTS was all about, and not quite ready to make the break OR tell people what I had discovered---Jan took me under her large wing and helped me SO much.

    I can't tell you how many things she sent for me to read and how many emails she wrote to me as I plodded and trudged through my realization and pain of what I had dedicated my life to serving.

    She was so kind and understanding, and so FULL of knowledge that went right to the heart. She had an impact on all of us that knew her (although she lived in Australia and I'm in upstate NY) and will be in my heart always.

    I almost had the chance to meet her......she was coming to the area (I forgot why) and I offered to have her stay here. I was so excited, but the trip got cancelled (I think a death in her family) and it just never got re-scheduled. She died a year later.

    We miss you Jan!

    hugs,

    Annie

  • Sunnygal41
    Sunnygal41

    I got to know Jan G. on the Women Awake Support Group............I was a rank newbie in those days...........had just gotten DF'd and divorced in '99............I joined the WA about 6 months later.........I look back in wonder at those days........I was just coming into my own independent adulthood............I had lived and tried to please so many others for so many years.......Inner Terri got stuffed way down deep......this thread brings back lots of old memories, Annie........whew!

  • Mulan
    Mulan

    I used to email with Jan all the time and miss her very much.

    While my cousin was ill and dying of breast cancer, she and Jan would email daily, and Jan never told her that she too was dying. She made Sharon more comfortable about all of that process............the cancer and death. She was a wonderful person, who did so much for all of us.

    Thank you for the reminder of Jan.

  • Sunspot
    Sunspot
    I had lived and tried to please so many others for so many years.......Inner Terri got stuffed way down deep.....
    .this thread brings back lots of old memories,

    Hi Terri,

    I think most of us can relate to that! I got to know her through WA too. She really helped me to wade through the disaster that I considered my life to be back then.

    Yeah, I sat here quite a while as I wrote this post, about how I felt and where I "was" back then. It was hard to know how much to say and when to hit send" when I went to post it. SO many memories---as you said.

    hugs,

    Annie

  • Sunspot
    Sunspot
    Jan never told her that she too was dying.

    Hi Mulan,

    I don't know of anyone who DID know she was dying! It was such a shock!

    If I remember correctly, she was still emailing and "doing her thing" right up until the day before we lost her.

    Thanks for sharing that about your cousin and how warm and giving Jan was towards her.

    hugs,

    Annie

  • sf
    sf

    What I liked most about Jan was the fire in her belly and the passion in her heart.

    alt

    For me, she was and still is an inspiration to fighting the lies with a fiery passion.

    sKally

  • bikerchic
    bikerchic

    Wow thanks ladies for telling a bit about your experience with Jan. When I first came to this board way before I registered she was one of the handful of people's posts I would always look for and read. What she said really resonated with me and was a big reason I was finally able to leave the WTS for good and not think about going back.

    I was such a newbie I never thought of emailing her now I really feel like I missed out on knowing her, but her posts still live in the Best Of section some very good reading!

    Kate

  • rekless
    rekless

    I met her on the old H2O board four years ago.

    My wife had just died and I DFed myself at that time ,and she would give me comfort and hope. I truly liked her but some where along the line we lost contact. IThis is the first time I have heard her memtioned. God rest her and bless her. This truly is a shock to me.

    Dan

  • gumby
    gumby
    She was so kind and understanding, and so FULL of knowledge that went right to the heart. She had an impact on all of us that knew her (although she lived in Australia and I'm in upstate NY) and will be in my heart always.

    Well said Sunspot! She was quite special.

    Gumby

  • JeffT
    JeffT

    I can't remember now how Jan and I got in contact with each other. We exchanged e-mails almost daily. By the time we got in contact I'd been out for about ten years, so I didn't have the need for help with that. We just swapped jokes and family news mostly.

    She was a great friend to everybody she came into contact with.

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