- Date Of Birth: December 16, 2020
- Date Of Death: December 16, 2020
- State: Iowa
Janet was born in 1934 in Fort Dodge Iowa, to Beulah and Robert Rittgers, who farmed just north of Rolfe, Iowa. The family moved to West Bend in 1948 where she was active in her church youth group and the girl’s 4-H Club. As a young girl Janet loved to go fishing with her family, play in the haymow with her cousins and ride her bicycle with her siblings. She graduated from West Bend High School in 1952 where she played the clarinet in the high school band. Janet went to college in Minneapolis where she studied clinical medical sciences and continued her education at Iowa State University, earning a degree as a Medical Laboratory Technician. Janet was married and had four daughters, Diane, Karen, Barbara and Jennifer. Her life’s journey led her to Cincinnati where she worked at the University of Cincinnati in the Infectious Disease division for many years. After retirement, Janet grew tired of the winter weather and moved to the Grand Bahama Islands where she made many good friends. She loved the beauty and tempo of the tropical life in the Bahamas and liked to say that she preferred the time beach combing and collecting seashells to shoveling the winter snow in Ohio! Wanting to be closer to her family, Janet moved back to the states where she enjoyed many years until the need for memory care, at which time she returned to the Cincinnati area. Janet was a free spirited, fun loving, kind woman who was loved by all who knew her. She will be greatly missed by many especially her 4 daughters, a grandson Ben, a granddaughter Karla, 4 great grandchildren, 3 great great grandchildren, brother Jon, sister Barbara and many friends and other family members.
