Janis Jean Greve

1959 - 2026

Janis Jean Greve

Amherst, MA - Janis Jean Greve passed away with close family by her side on January 29th.

The tributes that have since flowed in to a great extent capture her core: kind, warm, thoughtful, smart, gifted, generous, talented, unique, creative, compassionate, and a lovely and beautiful soul. To that list should be added bravery, as she faced down disease throughout her life-three bouts of cancer, the second of which she recounted in a special section of The Gazette ("The Dreaded Diagnosis and What Came Next: A Year in the Life of Janis Greve"). Her friends, her daughter Stefana and daughter-in-law Rachel, and her husband Randall all bore witness to her strength and, above all, to her love, which she gave unremittingly and which they all returned with devotion.

Janis was born in 1959 in South Dakota and spent her youth in Port Washington, WI, and Pocatello, ID. Her young adulthood was shaped by time in New York City, Buffalo, New York, and finally Amherst and Northampton. Janis graduated with a BA from SUNY Buffalo and a PhD in English from UMass Amherst. She taught in the English department at UMass for more than thirty years.

Those who knew her will all testify also to her boundless creativity, an innate impulse that led to poetry, watercolors, calligraphy, comics, origami and more. She wrote poems about quotidian matters and family dynamics with wit, nuance, and closely observed detail-or, as a colleague described some of her published poems, they are "beautiful and funny and focused and smart." She made watercolors and pen-and-ink drawings with delicate shading, subtlety, and precision. She labored over calligraphy and origami until she succeeded at just the right turn or fold. She prided herself on creativity in her teaching, which led to having students make graphic novels, comics, and videos in her courses on literary autobiography-which she also made herself, with humor and imagination. And in the service-learning course she was most proud of-(Dis)ability and Literature-she had her students work with individuals with cognitive differences in making crafts and drawings, in telling and illustrating their life stories. And she exposed her students to a variety of kinds of representations of the differently abled-in graphic novels, memoirs, film, art, dance, websites, and more. Her students persistently declared that Janis's courses expanded their minds, generated enduring insights, changed the ways they thought (especially about so-called "disability"). They characterized her courses as rewarding and engaging, standouts in their academic experience for their innovative content and form, but also for the attention and care Janis lavished on her students, and for the ways she made her classes welcoming and challenging, inclusive and stimulating, mini-communities of mutual respect, empathy, and courtesy-"one of the best courses at UMass," "I will remember this class for the rest of my life!" Passionate about what she taught, and also kind, approachable, understanding, knowledgeable, she was "a true gem in the English Department!" Another innovation was to start her classes with meditation, an outgrowth of her membership in the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, where she attended silent meditation retreats over the years. She found joy and solace in walking meditations there, in forging connections between herself and nature.

But perhaps more important to Janis was the love she shared with her partner Randall and her daughter Stefana. Janis and Randall loved each other devotedly, bringing to each other great joy, meaning, and boundless affection. Their relationship was an inspiration, a model for how two people can love and enjoy each other through the decades. Janis was a loving and dedicated mother. She bestowed boundless love on her daughter, Stefana, and the two of them shared a mother-daughter bond that was deeply loving and special, filled with cuddles, silliness, meaningful conversations, and laughter. As a mom, Janis always knew the right thing to say, and her voice was warm, comforting, and soothing. Janis, Randall, and Stefana enjoyed countless, delicious candlelight meals at their home in Amherst, often ending, in later years, with a cake or dessert that Janis had baked. They enjoyed formative trips to London, the Hudson Valley, NYC, the Finger Lakes, Portland, OR, Chicago, Wisconsin, and Far West Texas-in addition to their honeymoon spent in Vietnam.

She is survived by her husband, Randall Knoper; her loving daughter, Stefana Soitos (Rachel Hadley); her mother, Marilyn Greve; her siblings: Julie Vurva (Rich), John Greve (Fiona Gillies), James Greve (Betty), and Jason Greve (Vicki Wiltse); many nieces and nephews and close friends. She was predeceased by her father Edgar Greve and brother Joel Greve.

Charitable donations in Janis's name can be made to the Insight Meditation Society at https://give.dharma.org/ims-annual-fund.

A celebration of Janis, to share memories and commemorate her well-lived life, will be held on February 14th (or the 16th as a snow date) at Valley View Farm, 16 Walpole Road, Haydenville, MA, from 1 to 5 pm. Light snacks and drinks will be provided, and a brief memorial service will be held at 2:00 pm. This will be a celebration rather than a traditional funeral. Janis loved a beautiful outfit, so colorful dress is welcome. All are invited to attend. We hope you can join us as we remember and celebrate Janis together.