Janet Eleanor Thrasher "Jan" (nee Waninger), passed away at age 88 on Saturday, December 2, 2023. Beloved wife of the late Bill Gene Thrasher; loving mother of Tamara (Dennis) Popp and Tara (Jim) Clifford; cherished grandmother of Mallorie Popp (Mark) Richter, James Clifford, and Sean Clifford; dear sister-in-law of the late Helen Fay Sander Moore; dear aunt of Kerry (Bonnie) Sander and Rex (Joni) Sander; dear cousin and friend.
Janet's family will have a private service. In lieu of flowers, please consider memorials to the
Alzheimer's Association to support research of Dementia.
Janet, "Jan" was born in May of 1935 to the parents of William and Alma Waninger (nee Voigt) in the South St. Louis County of Lemay. She was an only child and raised in the household with her parents, maternal grandmother, and several dogs (Ginger, Topsy, and Chee Chee). She loved it when her aunt, uncle and cousin would come over on Sundays for dinner and then end the evening with a game of Rummy Royal.
Janet attended the Hancock schools and during her senior year she met the love of her life, Bill Thrasher, who was in his junior year at Hancock. He was on the basketball team and she was on the cheerleading squad. They maintained their relationship while Bill finished his last year of high school, and she attended SEMO. Bill then joined Jan at SEMO and they continued their education where Jan pursued a degree in education while Bill, using his words, majored in ping-pong and beer. Neither Jan nor Bill finished college, which was one of their biggest regrets but would prove to benefit both their children as it instilled a love of learning that their daughters both continued forward.
Jan and Bill married in June of 1957 and would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary, however Bill passed in 2016. During their early years of marriage, they both worked, Jan at the Automobile Club and Bill for Coco-Cola, and waited for the stork to deliver precious bundles of joy. Their first bundle, Tammy, arrived in 1963 and second bundle, Tara, arrived in 1966. They raised their daughters in Oakville Missouri while Jan worked full-time for Special School District as a teacher assistant and Bill worked for himself running/owning Lamplighter Liquors. Both of their daughters grew up, earned college degrees, married, and had children of their own and Jan took on the roll of babysitting grandchildren. After the grandchildren were in school, Jan and Bill pursued their dream to live in Florida, first by snow birding for a period and then by moving there full time. They had a great time playing in the sun and the sand but returned to St. Louis in 2012 when Jan's health started to deteriorate.
Jan suffered a long time with back issues and had surgery to correct it, although the surgery had limited success. At about that same time, Jan started showing signs of dementia which continued to progress until she ultimately needed to live in memory care facility for her own safety. While living in memory care, she maintained her sense of humor and loved laughing at silly pictures of herself created by Snap Chat or laughing at what the other residents were doing. She also enjoyed popcorn, Fritos, ice cream, shakes and the occasional White Castle slider.
Jan's friendship, laugh, love and humor will be missed by all.