Janet Marcia LaBelle

Janet LaBelle, 84, formerly of Chatham, MA, passed away peacefully in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 11, 2026, at Artis Senior Living of Reading, where she resided after having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease in 2021. Predeceased by her loving parents, Howard and Cora (Martin), Janet Marcia Conlon was born in Schenectady, NY on April 2, 1942. Jan always loved her birthday, as it could be shortened to 4/2/42 but also because she shared it with her grandmother.

Jan was an only child and moved with her parents from Schenectady, NY to New Bedford, MA in 1956. Both of her parents were avid bowlers and many a night was spent watching her parents bowl throughout southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Bowling, both Ten Pin and Candlepin, would become a favorite activity with her and her children. While living in New Bedford she started a lifelong friendship with Pauline Nunes, with whom she would play countless games of Scrabble, well into their golden years.

After graduating from New Bedford High School in 1960, Janet attended the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. While at UMass, Jan attended daily Catholic Mass and was active in the Newman Club, which evolved into the Newman Center after a building was erected for its use in 1963. It was at Daily Mass that she met her future husband, Donald LaBelle. Don and Jan became engaged in October of 1963 at Look Park in Northampton, MA, after having the ring blessed by Father Joseph Quigley at a Mass at the Newman Center. Fr. Quigley would later wed the couple on June 27th, 1964, and remained their close confidante until his death in 2005. Jan and Don were both honored to serve as officers of the Center and were just the second couple to be married there. A proud 1964 graduate, with a degree in Psychology, Jan enjoyed her time in Amherst, visited often, and UMass, the Newman Center and Father Quigley remained close to her heart forever.

After their marriage, the couple started their life together in Brockton, MA, and they would have five children there. Jan was very active at their local parish, Sacred Heart, where she sat on the church council, sang in the choir, served as a Eucharistic Minister, helped to fundraise and served as a 'lunch mother' at the adjoining parochial school.

An athletic young woman, many of Jan and Don's first dates took place on tennis courts. The love of the game was passed down to her children and grandchildren, and it was not a surprising sight to see three or four courts filled with 'Jan and Clan' on a summer afternoon. Jan would shovel courts in the Spring to hasten the melting of the snow and rake the courts in the Fall to extend the playing season. She was always the one to call the town hall and ask, "When are you gonna get the nets up?" Jan could be found on tennis courts, playing against foes decades her junior, well into her 70s, releasing a big WOOOO when she made a nice shot. Never a shy woman, this was especially true on the tennis courts. If Jan was winning, and she normally was, you'd hear about it.

An energetic mother, Jan loved being around her kids. After moving to Pepperell, MA, the family enjoyed a large yard and Jan's house is where her children and their friends would congregate. A lover of sports, she could be found in the yard having a catch with one of her children or playing volleyball, touch football, badminton, croquet or frisbee as part of a big group. The family basement featured a ping pong table and a wood stove, where the family would gather after hours of ice skating on their pond. The driveway basketball games on holidays when the family was all together were the stuff of legend, with Jan always in the thick of it and famous for taking her free throws 'granny style' with great success. Jan was never happier than when she was spending time with her family.

A big personality, Jan would make conversation with anyone, anywhere and at any time. And once she was your friend, she was your friend for life. Jan reveled in writing her yearly Christmas cards, a typed yearly recap of the family's highlights with enclosed family photo, and sending them to friends and relatives, near and far, old and new. She would send out so many, and with handwritten postscripts, that the process took her months and she would often joke that some of her recipients weren't getting Christmas cards, but rather Easter cards.

A generous woman, with a big heart and a love of animals, Jan could never say no to a friend or relative that had a dog or a cat that had to be rehomed. She took in every animal that was offered and a stray didn't remain a stray long if it showed up on Jan's doorstep. She was like that with people too, gathering friends wherever she went. After moving to Chatham, MA and joining the Senior Center there, being one of the younger members Jan "adopted" a lot of the older folks and she was always the one to offer a needed ride to the doctor's office, the store, to church or to visit a loved one. Jan lived a full life in the service of others.

Janet never played an instrument, but her house was rarely silent due to her great love for whistling. The hymns "On Eagles Wings," "How Great Thou Art" and "Amazing Grace" would fill the air. Cat Stevens, Paul Simon and Billy Joel were some of Jan's more secular favorites and she never met a show tune she didn't like. The soundtrack to the movie Oklahoma! playing on her reel to reel was the soundtrack of her children's lives.

For well over twenty years, Jan was a substitute teacher, a job which she liked because if she wanted to work that day, she worked, and if she didn't want to, she didn't. But when the phone would ring at 5 AM, Jan almost always said "Yes." Always young at heart, Jan enjoyed being around the kids in school, teaching different subjects every day and no two days were the same back-to-back. Being in the schools, this afforded the opportunity for her to start Chess Clubs at the high school and middle school, and she coached one season of Middle School Girls' Basketball, when no one else was willing and the season would have been canceled if not for her volunteering.

Jan leaves behind her husband, Donald of Bristol, RI. Children Eric (Martha) LaBelle of Charlestown, RI, Andrea Howe of Pepperell, MA, Jonathan Daly-LaBelle of Westerly, RI, Valerie (Andrew Nunes) LaBelle of Melrose, MA and David (Carmen) LaBelle of Charlestown, RI. Grandchildren Kate, Jacob, Shawn, Andrew, Joe, Cori, Alyssa, Emily, Ben, Finn, Grey, Maggie, Natalie, Soleil, Emily and Flora. She also leaves behind five great grandchildren, and Jan was expecting two more at the time of her passing.

When her children were young, she would go into their bedrooms each night to tuck them in. Invariably, she would sit at the bedside of each and rub their hair, write secret messages on their backs, sing them a song and kiss them goodnight. She never refused a request of, "Mom, trace my face," or "Stay with me until I fall asleep." No matter how long her day had been, she always had time for her children.

Jan's character can be summed up by this final story. She and her nephew were at breakfast one day and they were being served by a young woman. Not unusual for her, she struck up a conversation and finds that the young woman had just married. "Where are you going on your honeymoon," she asked. The waitress told her that she couldn't afford a honeymoon. "Do you have enough money for gas to get to Cape Cod?" And Jan took the key to her cottage in Chatham from her key ring and gave it to the waitress so that a stranger could have a nice honeymoon.

A wake will be held at St Mary's Church, 330 Wood St. Bristol RI 02809 on Thursday, April 23rd from 9-11 AM followed by a funeral Mass at 11 AM at the same location.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you honor Jan's memory by reaching out to an old friend or by doing a small kindness for a stranger.