Janet Montagna Sparapani

1948 - 2024

Janet Montagna Sparapani
Janet Montagna Sparapani, a wife, mother, and grandmother who co-founded the East Haven flower business Creative Flowers, died Friday morning at her home in New Haven, after a six-month fight with cancer. She was 75.
She was born Janet Louise Montagna in New Haven on November 3, 1948, the day President Harry Truman famously held up a newspaper with the erroneous headline "Dewey Defeats Truman." Her parents, Louis and Anna Montagna, who had supported Truman, had considered naming their daughter Trumania until her 16-year-old sister, Carmel, talked them out of it.
Janet was the youngest of four children, growing up in New Haven and then Hamden, where she attended St. Rita School. In the early 1960s, while she was a high school student at St. Mary's High School in New Haven, the Montagnas moved to Sorrento Avenue in East Haven.
At St. Mary's, Janet's aptitude for numbers caught the attention of Sister Mary Francis Lynch, the school's bursar, who took her under her wing. At 16, Janet got a job in the bookkeeping department at the New Haven Register, where her father was the manager of paper distribution. It was there she met her husband, Reny Sparapani, a copywriter in the advertising department. They started dating after Janet's high school graduation in 1966 and were married in 1972.
Reny traded his desk job for self-employment-crafting wooden and wrought-iron home decorations-and together, he and Janet grew and transformed the business, starting with silk flowers for weddings and later transitioning to fresh-flower arrangements. As Janet developed into a skilled florist, she also managed the finances, ensuring the company's success and expansion.
The couple opened a small shop on East Haven's Main Street in 1980, then moved to a larger space in the center of town, where they stayed for 23 years.
A mother of three, Janet was known for her devotion and loyalty to family and friends, her accommodating nature, and her deep sense of fairness. Her daughter, Robyn Saracco, recalled how she would strive to make sure Christmas presents were equal: "She would take presents away if she felt someone had too many."
Such qualities were matched only by her dedication to work. She became adept at juggling multiple jobs throughout her lifetime, applying her finance skills at numerous places, including Bob Thomas Ford and Executive Office Supply, while also helping Reny in the flower business. In 1998, she joined Town Fair Tire, gaining free Fridays to arrange flowers for weddings, funerals, and dining room tables. She remained at Town Fair for 26 years.
After becoming a grandmother, Janet dedicated her Fridays to watching her grandchildren. Outside of work, she loved vacationing in Aruba with her husband and cousin, Patti; cheering on the UConn Huskies, especially the women's team; and trying her luck at the slot machines. In 2022, she traveled to Amalfi, Italy, the birthplace of her grandparents. She wrote to her son, Jason, that the trip was "a lifelong dream come true."
Janet is survived by her husband; her brother, Louis Montagna, Jr.; her children and their spouses, Jason and Carolyn Sparapani, Marianne and Al Rusgrove, and Robyn and Joe Saracco; her grandchildren, Jackson, Emma, Addilyn, and Oscar; and many nieces, nephews, and friends. She was predeceased by her parents, her sister Carmel Perrelli, and her brother Frank Montagna.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the St. Baldrick's Foundation to support childhood cancer research.
Friends and family may call at MARESCA & SONS FUNERAL HOME, 592 Chapel St., Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and are invited to go DIRECTLY to St. Bernadette Church, 380 Townsend Ave., in St. Pio of Pietrelcina Parish for a Mass of Christian Burial on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Interment in All Saints Cemetery. Offer condolences at marescafuneralhome.com