Nellie Lou Janik

Surrounded by her family and friends, filled with love and song, Nellie Lou Janik (Williams) passed on to a better place, Thursday, June 26, 2014. Born June 24, 1932, this proud Theodore Roosevelt High School "Rough Rider" embraces her world from the start with horses, Canadian fishing trips, Ice skating, and animal rescues. The daughter of Vivian Marie Carpenter and stepfather, Paul H. Carpenter, Nellie's true love was music, inherited from her father, Jazz Musician Albert Williams. Her life was defined striving for a world in peace. Through a religious doctrine she personally championed the cause of the underdog. An avid peace activist, she demonstrated against U.S. involvement in the Viet Nam War with the American Friends Service Committee. A graduate of Kent State University in 1954, she received her Masters Degree in Social Work at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio in 1956. She worked as a Social Worker in Poughkeepsie, NY, Pittsburgh, PA, and in the Cleveland and Akron, Ohio area. As an educator, Nell taught in the Honors and Experimental College and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Kent State University with her classroom as a soundboard of her activist life with war and peace as her curriculum. In addition, she taught at Cleveland State University and Akron University and also donated her time teaching English at the American Language School in Akron, Ohio. You are invited to celebrate the spirit and life of Nellie Lou along with her family; George, her husband and children Lisa and Greg along with Nell's son-in-law Chris Graham and beloved grandchildren, Nicholas and Mark Gregory at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Kent on Wednesday, July 9th at 11:00 AM, 288 Gougler Avenue, Kent, Ohio 44240. Bring your love and smiles to celebrate this angelic soul. Bissler & Sons Funeral Home and Crematory is handling the arrangements.