Janis Darlene Wicks

1932 - 2020

Janis Darlene Wicks
May 20, 1932 - Dec. 21, 2019
Resident of Walnut Creek
Janis Darlene Wicks, 87, of Walnut Creek, California passed away peacefully at home on December 21, 2019, surrounded by her children, grandchildren and husband Robert, after saying a loving goodbye to each one.
Janis was born on May 20, 1932, to Laura and Alfred (Stu) Nelson in Hartington, Nebraska. She grew up in Hartington and is survived by her cherished sisters Clarice (Gary) Glidden and Dianne Caffrey and brothers Don (Judy) Nelson and Terry (Sandy) Nelson, learning to value thoughtful work and connectedness with community.
When asked about aspirations, Janis told her children and grandchildren that from as early as she could remember, what she most wanted to be was a mother. Janis is survived by her husband Robert, five children Marilyn (William) Macdonald, Kelley (David) Griest, Craig (Carrie) Wicks, Kimberly (Dario) Wicks, Sahna Marie Wicks, eleven grandchildren and one great-grandson.
Janis graduated from Wayne State College in Nebraska, earning a teaching certificate in Home Economics in 1953. Her first teaching job took her to Portland, Oregon, where she met fellow teacher Robert Wicks on a ski trip. Though the weekend ended in a broken leg for Jan, it seeded the beginning of a well-knit marriage which lasted a lifetime. Jaunty and ambitious travelers when they met, Janis and Bob found they shared the values of family cohesion, hard work and love of learning.
Janis and Robert (Bob) married in 1955 in Hartington, then returned to live in St. Helens, Oregon. Both continued teaching until Bob found a promising position at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California. The young couple moved to Walnut Creek in 1958. From her first months in Walnut Creek, Janis was active in community groups and organizations that grew around her many passionate interests. She joined a babysitting club and was an early member of the Walnut Creek Co-op supermarket.
Janis loved preparing and serving meals outdoors. With their close and cherished friends Ursula and Jim Garvey, Janis and Bob started what became a fifty-year tradition of a brunch called "Morning on the Mountain". They boosted traditional camping fare such as charcoal grilled bacon with French-influenced omelettes Montoises and delicate yeast rolls. Soon, they expanded cuisine-centered gatherings, joining with neighbors Carol and Ken Fowler and dear friends met through Bob's teaching. A dinner club emerged: "The Gourmet Group". Rotating hosts co-researched and produced elaborate multi-course food and wine pairings before this was 'a thing'.
Details mattered to Janis, as with all artists. Her first career as a home economics teacher gave way to thoughtful instruction on garment design, sewing, tailoring, quilting and stitchery imparted to her children and grandchildren. Each grandchild, most nieces and nephews and her beloved great grandson Llewyn, received carefully-wrought quilts personalized with Janis' appealing hand-sewn script. Janis was the family's go-to mender for torn jeans and socks needing darning.
Jan 'painted' in yarn and texture. She even left a yarn needle at the ready tucked in the back of her landscape stitchery representing Mount Diablo – to facilitate customization or a quick fix. Janis found a way to turn her inner experience as a mother outward through a three year collaboration with artist Judy Chicago, co-creating The Birth Project. Daily, continuing to her last hours with family, Janis appreciated natural beauty. She shared pictures, videos and joyful exclamations about flowers, deer in her garden, the color of a persimmon, the light on the mountain, birdsong.
Jan was fascinated by process, eagerly learning the chemical or physical reason that butter should be cut into pastry cold, how to work flour thoughtfully, and differently, depending on whether you were creating puff pastry or brioche. The 'waste not, want not' consciousness of Janis' formative years in Nebraska and her interest in culture and cuisine led to a second career as a teacher of French culinary technique. In 1970, Janis attended the Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris. On her return, friends requested that she teach them how to make what she had mastered. Thus began more than a decade of cooking demonstrations which expanded to Sacramento. Janis was asked to judge recipes and authored a cookbook.
At her core, Janis was a 'Connector': setting a welcoming table for family and friends at every birthday and holiday, visiting her Italian grandchildren for long, comforting winter months and road-tripping with them in summers, hosting foreign students for Thanksgiving and Easter, then keeping in touch over decades with them as their families grew.
Later in life, Janis took up daily exercise, creating a routine of 'splash' (aqua aerobics) lunching with friends and enjoying life's daily pleasures such as finding the exact right vase for today's choicest flower from Bob's garden. Janis was an early-adopter of technology, extending her love of Scrabble to Words With Friends, joining and posting in local Facebook groups. Family was amazed that Jan would be the first to 'like' a grandchild's post. Asking granddaughter Martina to explain Instagram use, she remained curious and motivated to share pictures to the last.
Jan travelled with Bob enthusiastically and continuously until her last weeks: to far-away continents and islands. In wintertime, she would set up a temporary home in Italy to maintain bonds with Kim and Sahna and stay close to their growing families. Several times a year, she and Bob road-tripped to Oregon to visit Bob's brother Tom and wife LaVonne, or to Clarice and Gary's, Terry's or Dianne's in midwestern and southwest states. Together, Jan and Bob learned about musical composers, artists and architects, frequently attending Jazz festivals and classical concerts alike. Through enthusiasm and example, Janis imparted a thirst for knowledge to her children and grandchildren. These are her gifts to family and friends, and will be her legacy: capacity to learn, to appreciate, to gather, to tend, and to love.
Janis' life will be celebrated on March 21, 2020 at Lafayette Veterans Memorial Center. Donations may be sent to the American Breast Cancer Foundation or to Brighter Beginnings: Every Family Matters.


View the online memorial for Janis Darlene Wicks