Farnum, Janice E. (Luse) 1924-2021

FARNUM, LUSE, LEINBAUGH

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 11/12/2021 at 09:23:48

Janice E. Farnum, 97, of Maquoketa, Iowa, passed away peacefully on Friday, November 5, 2021, at home.

A celebration of her life will be held at 11:30 A.M., SATURDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2021, AT FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH IN MAQUOKETA. VISITATION WILL BE HELD ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2021, FROM 5 TO 7 P.M. AT CARSON CELEBRATION OF LIFE CENTER IN MAQUOKETA. A private burial will be held at Mount Hope Cemetery, Maquoketa, Iowa.

Janice Eileen Luse was born on August 17, 1924 in Waterloo, Iowa, to William Arthur and Alice Mattie (Leinbaugh) Luse. She grew up in Strawberry Point and was a graduate of Strawberry Point High School. She then attended Upper Iowa University where she earned a teaching degree with an emphasis in music. She married Gayl Albert Farnum on July 1, 1945 in Moville, Iowa. Two children were born to this union, Jamie and Charles.

Janice was the Director of Choral Music at Maquoketa Community High School from 1956 until retirement in 1986. In 2016, she was inducted into the Maquoketa Community High School Hall of Fame. Previously she had also worked as the Choir Director in Grundy Center, Iowa.

Janice was a member of the Maquoketa P.E.O, and a 61 year member of the First United Methodist Church in Maquoketa where she had served as a past choir director. She had also served as the Choir Director in Grundy Center, Iowa, at First Lutheran Church in Maquoketa, and for the Mountain View Estates Men's Choir in Mesa, Arizona. Additionally, she was an accompanist for the Velda Rose Methodist Church in Mesa, Arizona. She was an avid reader and enjoyed playing bridge.

Those left to honor her memory include her children, Jamie Farnum of Minneapolis, MN, and Charles "Chuck" Farnum of Maquoketa, IA; a grandson Lucas Farnum and his wife Heather of Waukee, IA; and a brother, Sylvan Luse of Sioux City, IA. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Gayl Albert Farnum on July 17, 1993, and siblings Darrell, Lois, Velma, Melvin, Kenneth, Audrey, Wayne and Lucille.

In lieu of ther expressions of sympathy, a Janice E. Farnum memorial fund has been established.

"The family would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to Hospice of Jackson County."