Jan (AKA Janet) Amelia Summers (AKA Smith)

On Saturday, May 27, 2023, the world lost our beloved Jan Summers. Jan had been battling health issues for some time, and slipped away peacefully into God's full care that morning. A Celebration of Life will be held on August 19, 2023 at Spiritual Life Center in Sacramento at 2:00. For details, contact prglogan@surewest.net.

Jan was a Renaissance woman with many talents and interests, but most importantly she was a determined, fun-loving, creative, vivacious human who loved her friends and family, and was greatly loved in return. Jan was an advocate for nature and natural settings, and supported programs that encouraged environmental education for all and especially school children. She had an active social life with a huge circle of friends. Jan loved and appreciated theatre, artistic pursuits, singing, trees, great books and food, traveling, classy attire, cats, camping and being outdoors. Jan's active life included serving in the Renaissance Society, Campus Commons Home Owner's Association and Spiritual Life Center, where she was an active choir member for years.

Jan was born Janet Amelia Smith on February 17,1943 in Springfield, Ohio, daughter of the late Janet Buick and Harold Phillip Smith. She graduated from Shawnee High School in Springfield in 1961 and continued her education at Wittenberg College, receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in 1965. Jan taught at Emerson Elementary School in Springfield, then taught summer art classes at the Springfield Art Center, and worked at the Outdoor Education program at Glen Helen Nature Preserve in Yellow Springs. She studied the art of stained glass at Antioch College and attended Berea College for weaving, spinning, and dye processes using natural sources. To complete her education she received her MFA in design at Indiana University in Bloomington in 1972. She became an Assistant Professor of Art at Auburn University in Alabama. Art took Jan to Virginia in the DC area, producing and displaying her art. This afforded Jan an increased opportunity for travel and participation in both the airline (Air France) and real estate industries. After moving to Sedona, Arizona, she and her husband opened a retail store called "Death by Chocolate". While in Arizona, she also worked for Uniglobe travel agency, Mundus Institute as director of student services, and Southwest Airlines. She was later transferred to Sacramento, California in 1991 serving as Sales/Marketing Coordinator for Southwest Airlines, then at the Radisson Hotel in sales and catering, and finally for the Sacramento County Airport in economic development. She retired in 2014.

Jan is survived by a brother Drew Smith, two sisters; Nancy Smith, and Bonnie (John) McGillivray, and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.

For any donations, please consider some of Jan's favorite non-profits: The Sacramento Tree Foundation (https://sactree.org), the Wilderness Society (https://act.wilderness.org ), the Sierra Club (https://www.sierraclub.org ) or the Trust for Public Land (https://www.tpl.org ).