Janice Franz

On March 25th, 2024, we said goodbye to our beloved sister, aunty, teacher, friend, and associate: Janice Louise Franz.  She meant so much to so many and, it is likely, her passing will create a void in our community that will be felt for years to come.

Jan started teaching in 1966 and spent most of her career at Opportunity Elementary School in the Central Valley School District.   She was proud to wear those Panda colors, but you can bet, under that Opportunity swag, there was a thick layer of Crimson and Gray.  

She loved each and every student who sat in her classroom over the several decades of her career.  After Janice passed, her family found a bureau, in the attic, packed full of heartfelt letters and notes from many of the parents and students she served.  Common to most of these communications were the words Fun, Love and Patience.

Janice was a professional and the mark of the best teachers is a well-designed lesson plan.  Some of us remember Jan designing these plans, in the hot summer, beneath a thin layer of Cocoa Butter or, when cool breezes were blowing across Loon Lake, from the shelter of her screened-in cabin porch. 

Jan was a master of these lesson plans.  The trick is to get the kids to engage, feel a sense of excitement, anticipation, and curiosity.  Carefully executed, a good lesson plan can make learning happen while the students least expect it.  Of course, every master must have a masterpiece and Jan was no exception.

Jan’s masterpiece was her life.  She taught all of us so many important things, even when we least expected that she was teaching.  She showed us, for example, that the Butterfly Effect is real and that little acts of love, caring and generosity can flow through society and expand in force, exponentially, as they spread across the world.  She did this time and again, on her own and through St. Luke’s Lutheran Church or as an active member of the PEO Sisterhood.  Jan lived her faith and was prayerful, but she consistently helped God answer those prayers by turning them into actions.

Jan taught her final lesson while under the palliative care of the wonderful staff at Sacred Heart Hospital.  There she proved to us that the strongest, most enduring hearts are not built in the gymnasium but through the consistent and rigorous exercise of compassion.

Janice is survived by her loving brother Marvin Franz (Carol), niece Lori Kaye, nephew Scott Franz (Gale), Shawn & Randy Woodard, Gwenn & Bill Baer, and numerous cousins and 2nd cousins across the Spokane-Cheney area.

Please join us for a graveside memorial service at Spokane Memorial Gardens, 5909 Cheney – Spokane Road on April 17th at 11:00 a.m.