Janet Mancinotti Webb

1936 - 2020

(News story) Janet Mancinotti Webb, who guided Genoa elementary students for nearly a quarter-century and continued teaching and learning long after leaving the classroom, died Wednesday at St. Clare Commons, Perrysburg. She was 83.

Her son Mark Mancinotti said she was dealing with scleroderma for the last five years, which is a chronic connective tissue disease.

Mrs. Webb of Perrysburg retired in the late 1990s from the Genoa schools, where she taught third and fourth grades at the former Brunner School.

"She's always been a teaching-type person," her daughter, Anne Campbell, said. "She loved people and loved kids and was always wanting to learn new things."

She could be a strict teacher, "with a loving hand," her daughter said. "Kids loved her, but you had to have things in order."

Her son Mark said: "She loved to break things down and found inspiration in helping people learn.

"Even the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren, in a nice loving way she would teach them when they came over, whether it would be reading or playing games, playing cards," her son said.

Recognition included being named a Martha Holden Jennings Scholar in 1985 and 1986.

"She was a humble person," her son said. "It meant more to her that she was being the best she could be, but always with humility."

She was born Nov. 3, 1936, in Bowling Green to Eleanor and Albert Specht. She grew up on the family farm near Gibsonburg, where her father became known for his herd of Brown Swiss dairy cows, a breed then unusual in northwest Ohio.

She was a graduate of Gibsonburg High School and went to Ohio State University, where her high school sweetheart, Paul Mancinotti, was pursuing studies in veterinary medicine. She received a bachelor of education degree.

The couple married and, after he opened a veterinary practice in Genoa, she helped in the office and cared for the children at home.

Dr. Mancinotti died unexpectedly in 1973. The newly single mother of three went to work as a teacher. She persevered, her son said.

"My mom didn't have all the confidence in the world, but after my dad died, she said I have to be the head of this family," her son Mark said. "Her faith got her through, and then these last few years with her illness."

She received a master of elementary and early childhood education in 1979 from the University of Toledo.

She liked to play bridge and play golf. She and her second husband, George Webb, visited every state and took trips to Canada and Europe.

She and Paul Mancinotti married Sept. 14, 1957. He died Nov. 16, 1973.

Surviving are her husband, George Webb, whom she married Dec. 26, 1980; sons, Paul, Mark, and Craig Mancinotti; daughter, Anne Campbell; stepsons, David, Michael, and Stephen Webb; stepdaughter, Deanna Neuman; brother, Thomas Specht; 23 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Rose Church, Perrysburg, where she was a member. Arrangements are by Witzler-Shank Funeral Home, Perrysburg.

The family suggests tributes to St. Rose Catholic Church or to Southern Care Hospice in Sylvania Township.

This is a news story by Mark Zaborney. Contact him at mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.