- Date Of Birth: May 3, 1928
- Date Of Death: February 23, 2020
- State: Idaho
Janine Marie-Louise Lytle, née Mangin, passed away peacefully on February 23, 2020. Janine was born in Nancy, France on May 3, 1928 to Georges Robert and Marie-Louise Mangin.
Her family’s lives were upended with the advent of WWII. In 1939 upon the closing of Strasbourg to all citizens except military personnel, she took refuge at her grandmother’s in Lorraine. With the invasion of Hitler’s Army in 1940, her father was transferred to the Paris region to serve in the military police.
It was because of the war that Janine met her husband, Donald Lytle. Originally from South Dakota, Don’s family had fled the devastation of the Dust Bowl and braved a grueling journey similar to that depicted in the novel The Grapes of Wrath before settling in Nyssa, Oregon. Don was drafted into the U.S. Army in his junior year of high school and sent first to England and then Normandy in December 1944. Don fought and was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge and was subsequently transferred to Versailles. It was there that Janine and Don’s lives intersected. They met on New Year’s Eve in 1945 at a party in Versailles, marked by a memorable kiss at midnight. They married on August 12, 1946, first at the city hall as required by French law, then at l’Eglise Sainte Genevieve, by a French priest and an American Army chaplain. Given their young ages, they had to ask permission from the U.S. Army, the French Government, and their parents – ironic given that Don was deemed old enough to be sent to war!
Don was shipped back to Oregon in 1946, and Janine, fashionably French in her fur coat and platform heels, joined him in Nyssa after a two-week journey by ship and train. They settled there and over the next 16 years welcomed six children. During this time, Janine began establishing lifelong friendships, making a point to seek out and befriend every other “war bride” she could find. Janine’s parents arrived from France in 1951 to retire and help with the thriving family. Her brother Jean, wife Josette and their daughter Christine joined them from France in 1955.
Over the years, Janine and Don joyfully embraced their roles as “Mémé and Poppy” to their several grand and great-grandchildren, even becoming great-great-grandparents late last year.
Deeply interested in people of other cultures and religions, Janine traveled frequently and widely, always with an open mind and heart.
Last year Don and Janine had reached the impressive milestone of 73 years of marriage.
In addition to her loving husband Don, she is survived by their six children: Nancy Callahan, Carey Lytle, Gina Lytle-Hassan, Michele Messmer (Tom), Elisabeth Neighbor (Dan), and Jacqueline Lytle (Jim Curran); their fourteen grandchildren: John Mulvehill (Christine), Kevin Mulvehill (Kimberly), James Mulvehill (Maria), Catherine Lambert (Jason), Alex Lytle (Jennifer), Fabio Lytle, Alexandre and Raphael Hassan, Jennifer Kevan (Josh), Bryan Warnock (Sarah), Monica Hoffpauir (Kyle), Benjamin Messmer, Dewey Neighbor and Madeleine Curran, as well as 18 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
The family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to Juanita Apodaca for her loving care of Janine during her final years of life.
Janine is predeceased by her parents, Georges and Marie-Louise Mangin, her brother and sister-in-law, Jean Mangin and Josette Blodgett, a son-in-law, Pierre-Jean Hassan and a beloved granddaughter, Natacha Hassan.
Janine leaves behind a beautiful legacy in her adoring family and all she touched during her long and extraordinary life. Her strength, intellect, sparkling personality, flair and elegance will be sorely missed by all.
Que Dieu bénisse son âme.
