JANET REICHERT

1952 - 2024

JANET SUE (LONG) REICHERT Janet Sue (Long) Reichert was born in Fort Smith, Ark., on April 25, 1952, to Onace Earl Long and Lillian Hope Gillett. They later moved to Trona, Calif., where Jan grew up and graduated High School in 1970. She attended the former Northeastern Oklahoma State University (now NSU) and obtained her bachelor's degree in education. She was a Special Education teacher in Van Buren, Ark., and during the summers helped her mother's neighbors at their BBQ restaurant in Fort Smith. This is where she attracted U.S. Army lieutenant, Rick Reichert, who was temporarily assigned to Fort Chaffee. They wed in Fort Smith on January 16, 1982, and spent the next 18 years traveling the U.S. and Europe until Rick's retirement in 2000. Their last Army assignment was at Fort Leavenworth after which Rick began his second career at Sprint while Jan worked a variety of jobs at Lansing Correctional Facility. She worked for over 10 years in the Legal Office for Prisoners and fully retired in 2018. Throughout her life, Jan was loved and cherished by family and friends, including her special friends from Trona, and Cary Griffith, her closest friend since college. Jan had a big heart and lifted the lives of many. She was recognized by the Department of Defense and the U.S. Army Signal Corps for her contributions to the communities where she and Rick were stationed. Her other achievements were many, but she was most proud of having been an Honored Queen of Jobs Daughters Bethel in Trona and Worthy Matron of Byington Chapter No. 177, Order of the Eastern Star (OES) in Leavenworth, Kan. She served the OES Grand Chapter of Kansas as Grand Representation of Italy in Kansas and of Colorado in Kansas. Jan served the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons in 2013-2014 as an excellent First Lady. Jan was also a licensed Radio Amateur with call sign of KD5MDA, and a 25-year member of the Pilot Knob Amateur Radio Club in Leavenworth. She was a long-time volunteer with Leavenworth County Emergency Management. Jan faced myriad major medical issues but bravely maintained as active a life as she was able. She was preceded in death by her parents. Jan is survived by her husband Rick. She was especially close to her cousins Marcia L. Folsom, Carla Ann Martin, Donald Martin, and their extended family. Visitation will be from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, October 24, 2024, at R.L. Leintz Funeral Home. A funeral beginning with an Eastern Star service will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday at the funeral home. Burial will be at 2 p.m. Friday, October 25, 2024, at Roselawn Cemetery in Fort Smith. In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to to Leavenworth County Council on Aging, checks can be mailed to R.L. Leintz Funeral Home 4701, 10th Ave., Leavenworth, KS, 66048, or Council on Aging, 711 Marshall St Suite 100, Leavenworth, KS 66048.