01/03/2024
(posted by Mike Root) - I said goodbye to my lovely mom over the holidays. She passed away peacefully on December 16th, at home, with family. Jan was a wonderful parent, friend, playmate, advisory and confidant for my entire life. She did more than anyone to support my pursuit of music. This was my first Christmas without her and I miss her dearly. When I was a kid she made the holidays magical and I'm so grateful for those memories now.
For the past 5 years my 2 sisters and I were blessed to get to share taking care of mom after she sold her house. She was a joy to be around: upbeat, kind and so funny. She loved to joke. She lived a full life and had an unquenchable thirst for learning.
She was so many things: a painter, a teacher, a business owner and a person of great faith. She wrote funny, silly poems for each of her kids on their birthdays. She held dual masters degrees in chemistry and mathematics from Highlands University and devoted herself to teaching, eventually retiring from NM Public Schools.
She told me that after she and my dad had been married for a few years, one day dad called her up and asked "How would you like to buy a camp?" She responded, "What's a camp?". She and my dad owned and operated Western Life Camp, a kids' sleepaway summer camp outside Las Vegas for many years. The camp was transformational for many people who attended, including myself. I learned how to ride horses, do leatherwork, shoot a bow and arrow, and do a backflip on a trampoline there. Our family treasures the connections with people that we made through WLC.
There was a point in my life where I was very irritable with her. It seemed she could push my buttons with only a word or two and I would have steam coming out my ears. I didn’t want to have that kind of reaction to her, but I couldn’t imagine how it could ever change. A long-time family friend, Joyce, who had been a camper at WLC came back into our lives around that time. Joyce is a life coach and ayurvedic practitioner. She had been very positively impacted by experiences at the camp and she agreed to work with me. Through her guidance, and a lot of mindfulness practice, my relationship with mom began to soften. Or I should say that my own reactivity began to soften, and then dissolve. Eventually my relationship with mom transformed to where I didn’t get my buttons pushed. I got steamed up less and less and I learned to laugh and enjoy her quirkiness. I am so blessed that transformation took place. It made the past few years so enjoyable.
She loved her grandkids so deeply, even though she didn’t always find ways of connecting with them. Josh and Bella, she loved you so much. She always talked about both of you. Like, ALWAYS.
I want to give a huge thank you to my sisters, their awesome husbands and my uncle. The six of us shared care-giving duties and rotated mom between our homes and it worked out.
I am incredibly grateful that I got to spend so much time with her for the past 5 years. I got to tell her I loved her and that she was such a good mom. Last month I told her, “I love you, mama.” And she said, “I know. I can feel it. Kinda like you feel the weather”.
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We'll have a public viewing at Rivera Funeral Home in Santa Fe on Sunday, January 7th, 2024, from 5 - 7 p.m. All are welcome.
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Link to online obituary:
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/jan-root-obituary?id=53983145&utm_source=MarketingCloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Memoriams_RevisionConfirmation_120123&utm_content=legacyurl-text&sfmc_id=290955487&env=8fc9c05ad65dad7065bcddf4a6ab20f2f6c5dca2315c105aab1399dbba0aaa51&et_rid=290955487
