Janice Elaine Newton Thurmond was born out in the country at her parents' home on Friday, April 21, 1939, outside of Moultrie, Georgia, during the Great Depression. Her father, Isaac Lamar Newton, had just a sixth-grade education, but he was intelligent and industrious. He ran a filling station to support his wife and what was then three children. Her mother, the former Clydie Eudell Hall, was a high school graduate and was a home maker. Janice was the third child born to the Newtons, and the first of two daughters. Ultimately there would be six children born into the family. Janice was very fair complected with numerous freckles and bright red hair. She grew up with knowledge of a wide variety of topics. She was a sensitive soul, an accomplished gardener, and was a tender-hearted person who would cry easily, but also, she possessed a sharp tongue if someone took unfair advantage of her or one of her own. Janice moved to Jacksonville, Florida during World War II where her Dad was a civilian airplane mechanic for the Navy. He remained an airplane mechanic, or supervisor of mechanics, for the rest of his career. Her family returned to the Moultrie area after the war and then relocated to the Atlanta area in 1951 for her father to accept employment with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. Ultimately, Janice, her parents, and her three younger siblings, moved to Cobb County in 1955. Throughout her youth Janice was very close with her Grandmother Hall and spent most summer vacations in Moultrie with her "Mama Hall". Janice joined the First Church of the Nazarene in Moultrie, Georgia and subsequently moved her membership to Riverside Church of the Nazarene in Atlanta, Georgia, before becoming a member of the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation.

Janice was the Second Honor Graduate in the Campbell High School Class of 1957. The Lockheed Management Club Awarded her a College Scholarship to pursue studies in a scientific or an engineering field, but Janice knew for many years that she wanted to become a Registered Nurse. At age 15 while riding across country to visit her brother "Sammy", a sailor then stationed in San Diego, Janice saw the desperate poverty of the residents of a Navajo Reservation. She determined to become a nurse who would serve there and to ease these people's suffering. Janice surprised many when she turned down the valuable Lockheed scholarship in order to accept a gift of tuition, room, and board from the Atlanta Women's Club to the three-year Registered Nurse Diploma Program at the Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. Janice was the top graduate of that program in 1960. She joined the U.S. Public Health Service and went on to serve at hospitals on Navajo and Hopi Reservations in Fort Defiance, New Mexico and Window Rock, Arizona. She named her oldest son "Jeffrey" after a Navajo child she cared for after he was badly burned, but did not survive. Just prior to graduating from the Grady Program Janice attended a USO dance, where she met Jerry Grable, a soldier stationed at Fort McPherson. They eloped about three weeks after meeting. Jerry was ordered to Korea, but Janice stayed home, had her first child, and cared for her baby with her mother's help. Jerry returned home, was discharged from the Army and in February, 1967 they had twin boys, Jon and James. (Janice still holds the record for largest natural birth delivery of twins at 8lbs. 6oz. and 6lbs. 14oz.) Her marriage to Jerry ended in divorce. Janice worked as a Registered Nurse for more than 40 years, most of her efforts being in the surgical setting. She attained numerous professional qualifications and certifications. Janice was the WellStar Kennestone Hospital Employee of the Year in 1986. This was quite an accomplishment to be seen as the best employee in a field of over 1,000. Also, Janice worked part-time for several

years at Autumn Breeze Nursing Home in Marietta, in addition to her full-time job. There she developed affection for many long-term residents of the facility and she mentored many nurses from foreign countries who accepted their first employment in the United States at that institution. Somehow, she found the time to become an active member in garden clubs, in the United Daughters of the Confederacy, The Society of Colonial Dames in America, The Daughters of the War of 1812, The Daughters of the American Revolution, among other Patriotic and Hereditary Organizations, where she typically took on leadership roles at the local or state level. Janice lived a full, though often chaotic life, as a full-time nurse, with a part-time job, while for many years a single mother of three teenaged sons. She also found time to create many intricate needlepoint pieces, read hundreds of novels, attend "Metropolitan Opera Week" at the Fox Theatre each year, date a U.S. Senator, travel cross country several times following her favorite singer Roger Whitaker, produce copious volumes of highly documented genealogical research, garden, and search out antiques with her friends.

Janice came to be known as "Jan" after meeting, and soon thereafter marrying Lam Thurmond in 1989. They shared a relationship of love, stability, and companionship for over 35 years. Jan devoted her time to her lifelong hobby of genealogy and she produced works of greatness, not just for her own family lines, but for those of friends and acquaintances. Jan also plunged herself into being the consummate Grandmother – except that she had no direct descendant, biological grandchildren. She had adopted grandchildren, and step-grandchildren, and step-great-nieces and nephews, but none born of her flesh. She just treated them all as if they were her biological grandchildren. The irony of the Great Genealogist lacking progeny of the blood brings a wry smile, perhaps, at the end of Jan's tale, but it also tells us how well she loved. She was the most devoted and loving grandmother those children ever knew.

Janice Elaine Newton Thurmond passed away early Sunday, June 22, 2025, at WellStar Kennestone Hospital from the long-term effects of End Stage Kidney Disease. She was tired and was ready to depart this life. She had no doubts about where she was going. She is survived by her sons Jeffrey (Melissa), James (Peji), Jon, all of Marietta, GA, stepsons Lammie L. Thurmond, III, Mark (Debbie) Thurmond of Blue Ridge, GA, Stepdaughters Lainey Gaines of Canton, GA, and Mitzi Scott (Jimmy) of TN. She was preceded in death by her parents and all five siblings. Two sisters-in-law survive her, as do numerous grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and a sizeable number of first and second cousins which her Apple Computer is still processing and will make known to us once we prove that we are not a robot. In lieu of flowers please consider donating to the Episcopal Church of the Annunciation or to a library for the purchase of a book about the history of Native Americans