Janet Campbell

Janet Ann Marie Carl Campbell, age 87, passed away on May 11, 2018, in Glendale, Ariz. Born on Jan. 27, 1931, in Summit, N.J., she grew up in Hammondsport, N.Y., where she spent most of her life. She graduated from Hammondsport High School and attended Alfred State College, where she majored in business and met her future husband, Stuart “Spark” Campbell.

After graduation, she and Spark lived in Buffalo, N.Y., before returning to Hammondsport to establish roots there as a family. After visiting some friends in Fountain Hills at the age of 62, the couple fell in love with the desert and decided to purchase their own home there in 1994. Several years of “snow-birding” at their winter home ensued until it eventually became their permanent residence.

Janet was the mother to four daughters and “Nani” to 10 grandchildren; at the time of her passing she had nine great-grandchildren with a tenth on the way. She was a pillar of her family, rarely drawing attention to herself but always doing the hard work of keeping her children and grandchildren fed and loved, her neighbors and friends engaged and appreciated. She delighted in performers of all kinds, in music and figure skating and fireworks, in lakeside steamed clams and sunbathing in the summer.

In her youth, Janet was an enthusiastic high school cheerleader. As an adult, she led a troop of Brownies and Girl Scouts and served as the treasurer of the Hammondsport Episcopal Church. In later years, she became a volunteer and docent at the Glenn Curtiss Museum. Janet loved to read the paper, hit the penny slots at the casino, play bunko, chicken foot, and countless card games.

She was an avid member of the Hammondsport Girl’s Club and Fountain Hills Friendship Circle, hiked as long as her body would carry her, and adored traveling (and dancing) around the world with her Spark. She cherished sharing both Keuka Lake and the diverse landscapes of Arizona with her family. A 2005 houseboat adventure on Lake Powell with family and best friends was a highlight of her later years; she adored the scenery, the company, the dinners, and the stars.

In her final days, she dreamt of her beloved husband coming to transport her to the heavenly skies in his very first Frey & Campbell oil truck, an old photo of which sat by her bedside during the eleven years since his passing. She also couldn’t wait to reunite with her mother, Elizabeth Frey Carl, and especially with her father, Theodore Carl, whom she hadn’t seen in over 40 years.

Janet is survived by her four daughters, Patricia Campbell (Peter) Lauzze, of Lakewood Ranch, Fla., Nancy Campbell Muller, of Sarasota, Fla., Susan Campbell (Tom) Knapp, of Palmetto, Fla., and Lori Campbell (Gary) Wheeler, of Peoria, Ariz. She is also survived by nine grandchildren, Douglas Muller, of Accord, N.Y., David Muller, of Washington, D.C., Kevin Lauzze, of Chicago, Ill., Sara Lauzze Blix, of Sarasota, Fla., Kierstan Schultz of Seabrook, N.H., Nicholas Wheeler, of San Carlos, Calif., Gabrielle Schultz Redding of Charleston, S.C., Lauren Wheeler Lamb, of Poway, Calif., and Alexandra Schultz Forbes, of Corning, N.Y. She is predeceased by her husband, Stuart “Spark” Campbell, her brother, John Edward Carl, and her grandson, Ryan Stuart Muller.

Her spirit now lives on eternally, in the many hearts of her family members, and in a cold, crisp glass of New York Riesling, as the setting sun sparkles across the glistening water of Keuka Lake at the close of a perfect summer day.

In lieu of flowers, Janet’s wishes were for all contributions to be sent to the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum, https://www.glennhcurtissmuseum.org/giving.php.

The service and celebration-of-life will be attended by her proud family in Hammondsport, N.Y., this August.