Janet Marie Thollander

1928 - 2025

Janet Marie Thollander passed away peacefully on August 16, 2025 at Napa Valley Royale Senior Assisted Living in Napa, California. At age 97, she had lived a full and satisfying life as a loving, supportive wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Janet was born in San Francisco on March 20, 1928 to John and Hazel Behr. As the third generation of her family to be born there, Janet was a true-blue San Franciscan.

Janet met Earl Thollander in 1944, at the time an officer in the U. S. Navy, at a dance where her father was the violinist in the band. Janet had been reluctant to attend the dance, but her father convinced her to go. After three years conducting a long-distance courtship and countless letters, once the war ended, Janet and Earl were married in 1947. When they started their marriage, Earl was a young and aspiring artist. They remained together for 54 years, until Earl's passing in 2001. It was a long and storied marriage, starting in San Francisco, eventually including extensive travels around the world.

As Earl's gained notoriety as an artist, Janet took pleasure in hosting artist friends to their home-invitations which almost always included a meal of some sort. The more they entertained, the more expert Janet became, seemingly always able to spontaneously pull the right dishes and accompaniments together to produce many a memorable evening.

In 1964, she and Earl purchased a rustic house on a wooded hillside outside of Calistoga. Originally intended as a weekend retreat from city life in San Francisco, it didn't take long for the house on Murray Hill to receive renovations and for Calistoga to become Janet and Earl's fulltime home. Life on Murray Hill couldn't have been more different than what Janet was used to in San Francisco, but she grew to love the gardening and the wildlife and the charmed setting. It was very much an idyllic life.

Janet is survived by her daughter Kristie, her son Wesley (Lauren), grandson Neil, grand-daughters Chloe (Colin) and Sophie, great-granddaughter Finely and great-grandson Liam.

- - -

We are thankful for Janet,

the mother, the grandmother,

the great-grandmother, the aunt, and the friend.

We are thankful for the ways she loved us and

for the many ways she touched our lives.

We will remember her with love and gratitude

for the gifts she gave us.