Janice Anderson DeLoof

De Loof, Janice

1938-2013

Artist, community advocate, wife, mother, sister, aunt and dear friend, Janice Anderson DeLoof, 74, passed away after complications from surgery for lung cancer on Wednesday, March 20th. Janice is survived by her husband, John; her son, Philip Johnson; brother, Jack Anderson (Sophie); Linda Perkins (James); as well as nieces Joanna Swanson (Keith); Julia Anderson; Chloe Anderson; and nephew Jake Perkins. Janice was predeceased by her son, Bradley in 1998. She was born in Omaha on April 24, 1938, to Levi and Virginia Anderson.

Janice "did art" from an early age and chose art over piano lessons at age 14. She then continued with art classes in high school. She graduated from the University of Omaha in 1960 with a BA in Art and BS in Education. She was very active in extra-curricular activities and served as editor of the college yearbook in her senior year.

Following graduation from college, Janice moved to Garden Grove to begin a teaching career. In 1962, she accepted a teaching position in Germany for the US Army at a high school for dependents. In Germany she met John DeLoof, an engineer for Hughes Aircraft. They relocated back to California, and married on September 20, 1964. They were blessed with sons, Phil and Brad and established their home in East Fullerton. The DeLoofs began a long pattern of annual family camping trips to the mountains and deserts of California. This led to the purchasing of a condo in Mammoth Lakes in 1995 where they continued to enjoy the beauty of the California mountains.

Janice has been an active member of the Morningside Presbyterian Church since 1972 and was a Deacon and a member of the choir. Her faith helped her to persevere with severe pneumonia following lung surgery in February.

Following marriage and exposure to the Southern California art scene, she began to develop as an artist. In the early 1980's, she enrolled in the CSUF graduate program to obtain an MA in art. This degree greatly expanded her artistic horizons, and also nurtured great friendships with other artists in the program that continued to the present. She began to teach art part-time at Fullerton College and this continued for over 20 years. She also became affiliated with two cooperative galleries, Gallery 318 and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art, which further motivated serious artistic aspirations. She has described her work as, "Recurring images of furniture, various utilitarian objects, and drawn or painted lines are symbols, signs, and gestures from my own personal vocabulary of memories used to create visual narratives on wood, canvas, or paper."

Years of exhibiting art led to a number of achievements in curating art exhibits. In 2009, she worked in collaboration with the CSUF Grand Central Art Center, Stop Gap Theater, and the County MHSA leadership to have a multi-week event showcasing the work of the mentally ill or family members in workshops, music, art exhibits and a play for the purpose of reducing the stigma of mental illness. Janice continued to be active in other stigma reduction efforts, and her last such leadership effort over the past year has resulted in funding and planning for a collaborative effort between the CSUF Department of Theatre and Dance and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art for stigma reduction art events this coming July and August, 2013.

Janice has been an advocate for better mental health services since the family was touched by the mental illness of her sons.

She worked to increase understanding and awareness of mental health advocacy issues as a member and Chairperson of the Orange County Mental Health Board for eight years. She was particularly concerned for the seriously mentally ill who lacked insight into their illness and thus avoided treatment. She became a vigorous advocate for Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AB 1421) through leadership of the Government Affairs Committee of NAMI Orange County while also serving on the Board. Later, she worked for the successful passage of AB 1424 which now allows the full history of a person's mental disorder to be considered in all steps of any legal proceeding for treatment, and for passage of the Mental Health Services Act, Prop 63 in 2005. She served on the OC Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Steering Committee and on the NAMI California MHSA Advisory Committee. Since 2002 she coordinated consumer, family, and professional mental health stakeholder participation in issues and policy forums with officials and supervisors in Orange County and legislators in Sacramento.

Janice has been recognized for her caring and leadership in advocacy for the mentally ill a number of times including the Thomas F. Riley Community Volunteer service Award -2003, the NAMI Orange County Volunteer Award -2005, the Torrey Advocacy Commendation Award - 2008, and the Women Making a Difference Award by State Senator Correa-2009.

Janice was generous with her time and energy to care, help, and serve others in so many ways.

The family suggests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Morningside Presbyterian Church, Janice DeLoof Memorial Fund, or NAMI Orange County Memorial Fund, 1810 E. 17th St., Santa Ana, CA, 92705 A celebration of life service and reception will be held at Morningside Presbyterian Church in Fullerton, April 6th at 2 p.m.

There will be a Visitation at the McAulay & Wallace Mortuary, on Friday, April 5 from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.