Janet S. Jorgensen, 66, a longtime resident of Chelmsford, Mass., passed away Dec. 2, at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass. She had been hospitalized since May of this year and suffered from Crohn’s disease since 1980.
She was born Nov. 23, 1940 in Cambridge, Mass., to the late Mildred E. (MacDonald) MacLean and the late Reuben Willis (Willy) MacLean, who retired to Nobleboro on Damariscotta Lake in 1974. The family spent many happy vacations there: swimming, fishing, boating, visiting Pemaquid Point, Popham Beach, the Rachel Carson Preserve at Round Pond, and eating lobsters bought off the pier at New Harbor.
Janet was raised in Lexington, Mass., on the family property known as Peacock Farm. She graduated in 1958 from Lexington High School in Massachusetts, where she met her future husband, Neil. She graduated at the top of her class from Mount Auburn Hospital’s nursing school with an R.N. in 1961, and earned a B.S. in nursing from Boston University in 1963.
She and Neil were high school sweethearts and married on Feb. 1, 1964, at Follen Community Church in Lexington, Mass. They moved to California where Neil worked for Raytheon and Janet worked at Park Avenue Hospital in Pomona, Cal. When they returned to Massachusetts, Neil continued at Raytheon and Janet taught at Framingham’s Union Hospital’s nursing school. Neil retired as a senior principal electrical engineer from Raytheon in 2002.
The couple settled in Chelmsford, Mass., where they raised three children: Matthew of Los Angeles, Cal., Erica of Seattle, Wash., and Andrea of West Roxbury, Mass. Janet is survived by them, along with Matthew’s wife, Erika Stewart and their sons, Lucas and Avery, Erica’s husband Brian Williamson and their daughter Isobel and son Finn, and Andrea’s husband John Suh and their son Carsen; sister, Lila Finlay of Oakland., and Phyllis Parsons and husband Milton of Union; mother-in-law, Alice Jorgensen; sister-in-law, Paula Jorgensen both of Racine, Wis.; and eight nieces and nephews.
She is predeceased by her father-in-law, Alvie, and nephew, Jonathan Finlay.
The family wishes to extend a special thanks to Janet’s doctor, James Anderson, of Emerson Hospital, for more than two decades of thoughtful care.
