Janet Mary Irvin

Janet Mary Irvin passed peacefully from this life on August 22, 2019, in the loving comfort of her family after a courageous struggle with mesothelioma.  The eldest of six children in the Reedy family, Janet was born in Brooklyn, NY on March 16, 1945 and lived in Merrick, a community on Long Island with her mother, Mary Elizabeth Reedy, a homemaker, and father, Eugene Forest Reedy, a mechanical engineer with Sperry Flight Systems. With grandparents and cousins living nearby, family was ever present in Janet's life.  She attended Cure of Ars School where she began her study of languages and mathematics, subjects that interested her throughout her life.  In 1957 her father was transferred to the new Sperry avionics facility in Phoenix, and the family settled in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Janet continued her education at Kiva School. She graduated from Scottsdale High School in 1963 and went to Stanford University where she majored in history, studied Italian at the Stanford program in Florence, and graduated with a B.A. in 1967 and an M.A.T. in 1968.  She returned to Phoenix and began teaching at Coronado High School in Scottsdale where she quickly gained a reputation as one of t...[more]

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the most capable, admired, and respected staff members.  In 1969 she met Glenn Irvin, an English teacher at Coronado returning from military service.  They were married in June 1970, and Janet began teaching at Scottsdale High School, and then accepted a graduate research fellowship in the English Department at Arizona State University.  When the couple's daughter, Meredith, was born in 1974 and followed the next year by a son, Kelly, Janet turned her attentions to their nurture, and to gardening and handicrafts such as sewing and knitting, potting, and taking ceramics classes at ASU.  In 1978, Glenn took a position at East Texas State University, and the young family loaded their belongings into a rental truck and began their new life in Commerce, Texas. Janet was soon immersed in the task of managing a growing family while building a house for them to live in.  For her, this meant participating in the construction - installing insulation, hanging drywall, roofing, caulking, painting, laying tile and supervising the construction, a process that she jumped into enthusiastically.  Somehow, she still found time to complete her master's thesis at ASU.  In 1981, another daughter joined them, Darcy, followed by son, Ryan, in 1982.  Life in Commerce was filled with gatherings of friends, activities with the children, and tennis matches.  Even so, Janet soon found herself managing the local water company, and building an addition to the house to accommodate the growing family. In 1986, Glenn joined Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and the family moved to Pismo Beach, CA , where, between the demands as a mother of four, Janet continued pursuing her many interests and began to re-establish her professional career in education.  With the children becoming increasingly self-sufficient, she started her own landscaping company and was contracted by their local homeowner's association to maintain the common areas of their 300-home community.  The four kids could often be found with their mother around the neighborhood, weeding, mowing, and repairing irrigation lines.  Although the children were encouraged to spend as much time outdoors as possible, Janet and Glenn quickly realized that an addition to their home would make the space much more comfortable for their family of six.  Never one to sit idle, and with the experience of building their home in Texas under her belt, Janet began taking Architecture classes at Cal Poly, and eventually drafted the construction plans for their 2-story, 1000 sq ft addition herself.  By now, Darcy and Ryan were attending elementary school and Janet was always a willing volunteer for school activities, which ultimately led to her appointment as the teacher for the computer lab at Shell Beach Elementary School.  She had a passion for technology and a unique perspective on computing in classroom settings given her background in education.  A new middle school in the area opened up a math, science and technology position, where students applied engineering principles in a project-based curriculum and learned how to use shop tools, build circuitry, operate AV equipment, and program computers.  With Janet's background in education, technology and construction, she was immediately hired for the position and the experience heavily influenced her future career path.  In the summers, she taught literature classes at Cal Poly, and her interest in languages and cultures soon found her organizing study programs for Japanese students. 1998 brought a return to Arizona, where Janet and Glenn's life together started.  She began working for the Maricopa County Schools training teachers in techniques for applying math, science and technology in their curricula.  The job brought her tremendous personal and professional satisfaction as she built lasting relationships and collaborations with educators around the county, helping to build a STEM support system for traditionally underserved schools.  Eventually, Janet transitioned into the Pendergast School District where she wrote and managed STEM grants. About this time the children began marrying and establishing their own homes and families.  Janet deeply and genuinely loved each of the new family members, often saying that she felt incredibly fortunate to have not four, but eight wonderful children.   In 2009, Janet retired and began her favorite journey yet, exchanging students, teachers and classrooms for six wonderful grandchildren and becoming known as "Gigi."  Her seemingly boundless energy and generosity was never so well expressed as when she was with her grandchildren, and she could always be found involved in a game, puzzle, project or adventure with one, or all, of them.  Her passion for learning and experiencing different cultures never diminished. Rather, it grew, as she and Glenn, often accompanied by their children, traveled abroad, from the hills of Tuscany to the top of Mt. Fuji and many places in between.  Their life together was filled with art, music, travel, friends, tennis, hiking, and most of all, dedication to family. At heart, Janet was a teacher.  She was also a parent, a world traveler, a gardener, a volunteer, tech support, a shoulder to cry on, a mentor, and many other things.  She was all of these because she loved life, she loved people, and because she was intensely, endlessly, and endearingly fascinated by the world.  And she was a teacher because she wanted everyone else to appreciate and enjoy the world as much as she did. Janet is survived by her husband Glenn, daughter Meredith, son-in-law Stephen Toth and granddaughters Maddie and Allie; son Kelly, daughter-in-law Vicky, grandson Cam and granddaughter Emi; daughter Darcy, son-in-law Joe Romano and granddaughter Ella; and son Ryan, daughter-in-law Sarah Irvin and grandson Connor; her mother Betty Reedy and four siblings: Ron Reedy, Gary Reedy, Diane Thomas, and Daryl Reedy. Donations can be made in Janet's name to the Hospice of the Valley at https://www.hov.org/.