Elizabeth Amelia "Elsie" Janego

1920 - 2020

Elizabeth "Elsie" Amelia Janego, born May 11, 1920, passed away Nov. 19, 2020.
How do you live to be over 100 years old? Here's our Mom's story.
She was born to Joseph and Mary Krajcovic in Akron, Ohio and lived in a tiny house with her sisters, Helen, Viola, Lorraine and Dorothy along with her brother, Joe. They were raised during The Great Depression and that gave all the kids a keen sense of how each penny we made was spent!
Her family moved to Owosso, where she went to school and worked at a department store in town. Working for a few dollars per day was only offset by paying 10 cents a gallon for gasoline! It is in Owosso that she met Steve, the love of her life.
She married and purchased a home close to St. Joseph Church in hopes that the Catholic proximity and influence would eventually rub off on her kids, Ron of Rapid City, Karen of Parker Colorado, Susan of Homer, Alaska, Steve of Sisters, Ore. and Jim of East Tawas. It is at that home they raised her five wonderful kids that have blessed them with nine grandkids and nine great grandkids to date.
As the kids grew up, she spent many weeks up at Old Orchard Park on the Ausable River, camping, fishing and picking huckleberries together. Mom and Dad eventually moved to East Tawas, and built their dream home on Bass Lake. It is there she lost Dad at the young age of 64 years.
She then moved back to her family and friends in Owosso to be close to those relationships and Dad at the cemetery. After moving to a few locations in Owosso, she landed at Kiwanis Village just north of downtown. She can still smell the perch cooking at Greg and Lou's.
Mom spent over 30 years in her apartment there. Being alone for so many years made her fiercely independent, but she had fun making new friends, people watching and walking everywhere! She became quite a celebrity due to the miles she would walk each day and the bags of groceries she would pack a few miles home. The trick was to buy enough groceries for two bags and then balance the load between bags to keep your stability on the sidewalks!
When Mom reached her 90s, she needed more care. Appreciation goes to family, friends and neighbors that helped her along each day until the kids moved her to Tawas Village in East Tawas. This move put Mom close to her youngest son Jim, where she lived over a year until Mom peacefully passed away.
She loved watching the deer, turkeys and birds out her window and making new friends with staff and residents there. Mom took one last car ride down to Owosso from Watkins Brothers Funeral Home and was finally laid to rest alongside Dad in St. Paul's Cemetery. From there, Mom took the long-awaited spiritual ride up to Heaven where Dad was waiting to greet her!
Mom's secrets for such a long-life center around the unwavering love for her family. She always put them above all of my own needs. Others include walk, walk, walk everywhere! After all, it costs money to drive your car around and gas is no longer 10 cents per gallon. If the weather gets too bad to walk, forget yoga TV, just plug in God's Top 40 polka tape and dance in your living room!
Cookies are fuel for the body and coffee gives you something to dunk them in, Mom ate pounds of cookies per week, but they only cost a dollar per package on sale. Cheese puffs are another secret, those big bags at the Dollar Store will keep you going all day long! Putting dry cereal in a cottage cheese tub makes for a great TV snack, who needs chips? Count your money every chance you get, it keeps you sharp. Put dollar bills in one envelope, 5's in another, 10's in another, it really helps. Be a do-it-yourselfer! Who needs to pay plumbers, contractors and electricians when we have coat hangers, tape, safety pins and rubber bands? Call your kids all the time! They may have gotten a bit tired of that phone ringing early every morning but down deep she knew we loved hearing from her. Reach out to help solve the problems of the world.
Mom knew that climate change is due to the earth shifting on its axis from all the rockets and satellites we are shooting up into space! She could go on but felt she must leave a few problems for all of us to work on now that she's gone.
Mom had a wonderful life and hope and pray God gives us the same blessings he gave her. Keep your faith, trust in God, love your family and she is looking forward to meeting you up here when your day arrives.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Joseph Church in Owosso at stpaulowosso.org.