Janice Purcell

Purcell, Janice age 83, of Enon, passed away on December 19, 2021. Janice was born to Lester and Flora Meyers in 1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio. She, the oldest child, was followed by one younger brother Walter. Raised in Cincinnati, Janice graduated from Cincinnati Central High School. When she was a child, she lived in the Winton Place neighborhood for several years. Her future husband Bill lived a couple streets away and frequently cut through her backyard on the way to his friend’s house. Bill and Janice, however, insisted they did not know each other as children. When Janice was 13 years old, her beloved father Lester, a firefighter, died on the job and her family moved to a different neighborhood. Several years later, Janice and Bill’s paths crossed again when Janice met her husband while they were students at the University of Cincinnati. They were married in 1960 and within 3 years they had 3 sons. Her daughter arrived 11 years later. Bill’s job as an engineer with the Air Force had the family move to Indiana, to Wright-Patterson AFB in Ohio, then onto California, back to Ohio in 1966, east to New York in 1971, and finally back to Ohio in 1972. With the exception of the year on Long Island, Janice and Bill lived in the Enon area for 55 years. When her children were young, Janice stayed at home and volunteered for the PTA, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and taught Sunday school. She drove her kids to every practice and lesson and she attended their every game and concert. Her station wagon was frequently full as she chauffeured her children’s friends to afterschool activities, to Twin Lakes pool, and to the Skyborn roller skating rink. She always saw the good in people, even in her children’s ridiculous teenage friends. If anyone needed a babysitter at the last minute, they would call Janice because she was always happy to help. After her children grew up, Janice volunteered for the Enon Lioness Club, the Enon Historical Society, and other organizations in her community. Later in life, she enjoyed visiting her grandchildren, having lunch with the Red Hats, and playing cards at the senior citizen center. Almost fifty years ago, Janice helped found a CCD for children with physical or mental disabilities at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Springfield. It was one of the first CCD programs for children with disabilities in the region. She and her colleagues guided the disabled students through their first communion and confirmation. After volunteering as a Sunday school teacher for a decade, she went back to college and finished her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in special education at Wright State University. Subsequently, Janice worked as a special education teacher for Dayton City Schools and at Our Lady of the Rosary school for more than 20 years. Janice Purcell was a dichotomy of piousness and fun. No one cursed nor told a dirty joke in front of her – at least they did not make that mistake more than once. In fact, the only time Janice would swear is when she was watching the Cincinnati Bengals on TV, and even then the strongest curse she would utter was “Damn {insert Bengals head coach}!!!” This tradition started when Sam Wyche was head coach in the 1980s and Janice would blurt out “Damn Sam” whenever the Bengals bungled a crucial play. She expected her children to act like gentlemen and a young lady, but if she ever heard an Elvis Presley song Janice would immediately start dancing like a crazed teenager. (By the way, at least her son Dwayne is a church-going gentleman. 1 out of 4 ain’t bad. She would tell anyone who would listen to her that her sarcastic husband corrupted the other 3 children: that her son Dwayne took after her side of the family while Mark, Eric, and Laura took after her husband’s side). Janice was a lifelong Democrat but she did not allow anyone to badmouth Senator John McCain in her presence. She rescued many dogs and cats and had a soft spot for disabled animals, including her 3 blind dogs. In 1986, the Purcell family moved from their bi-level on Koons Drive to a small farm outside Enon. After moving to the farm, Janice immediately found her favorite place to relax: the enormous screened-in porch, where for 7 months a year, she would eat lunch and dinner, play cards, gaze on the horses in the pasture, and watch traffic on I-70 peacefully buzz by. She enjoyed decorating her farmhouse; she slowly got rid of her modern furniture and replaced it with antiques that she found at garage sales and antiques shops. And she never missed an opportunity to tell someone that her house was built in 1831. She loved playing Euchre, Uno, and Oh Hell (and she apologized for saying a bad word every time she played that game!). She was a voracious reader: she delighted in eating a little bit of cheese and drinking a small glass of White Zinfindel while reading a good book. She enjoyed tending to her flower gardens; making candy Buckeyes at Christmastime; hosting a big Christmas party and a large picnic in the summer; playing with her grandchildren; listening to “old time rock and roll;” telling her husband and children what they should do; shopping for bargains at department stores; the Cincinnati Reds; and dancing. She always rooted for the underdog, which might explain her devotion to the Cincinnati Bengals and John McCain. She enjoyed going on many road trips around the backroads of Ohio and crisscrossing the USA with her husband. She was always the navigator and Bill was always the driver. Sometimes, her best friend Gail and husband Joe would join Bill and Janice on their road trips. First and foremost, she was a devoted daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and teacher. Now anyone who knew Mrs. Purcell would know that she would be mortified by this cheeky obituary that her daughter wrote. Janice considered funerals to be extremely important affairs. Here is the obituary that Janice expected her daughter to write: Janice T. Purcell, age 83, passed away at the Kettering Medical Center. She was born in 1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Janice was the eldest of two children of Lester and Flora Meyers. She met her husband Bill while they were students at the University of Cincinnati. She graduated from Wright State University with her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in special education. Janice worked for more than 20 years as a special education teacher in the Dayton City Schools and at Our Lady of the Rosary. She lived in the Enon, Ohio area for 55 years. She volunteered for several organizations in Enon and taught CCD for many years at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Springfield. Janice is survived by her husband of 61 years William “Bill” Purcell, her children Dwayne (Julie) of Milton, Georgia, Eric (Rita) of Centerville, Ohio, and Laura (John Jordan) of Rockaway, New Jersey, and 5 grandchildren Whitney Purcell Shakar (Charles) and Josh Purcell of Georgia, and the triplets James, Brian, and William Jordan, and her 2 great-grandchildren Ford and Grant. She was preceded in death by her brother Walt Meyers of Reno, Nevada, her son Mark Purcell of Springfield, Ohio, and her granddaughter Nikki Purcell Sylvest of Roswell, Georgia. A visitation will be conducted 6-8 pm Tuesday December 28, 2021, in Adkins Funeral Home, Enon. Mass of Christian burial will be conducted 11:00 Wednesday, December 29, 2021 in Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church, Fairborn. Burial will follow Mass in Enon Cemetery. www.adkinsfunerals.com Please send flowers! Janice loved flowers, especially red flowers. Red was her favorite color! She always had a sea of red Zinnias in her garden. In fact, she loved any and all red flowers, red roses, red carnations, red marigolds, poinsettias, etc. Or you can donate in Janice Purcell's memory to 4 Paws for Ability which is an Ohio organization that provides service dogs to disabled children. Janice once knew a dog trained by 4 Paws for Ability and was very fond of it. https://4pawsforability.org/

Janice Purcell

January 31, 1938 - December 19, 2021