Janet Ann (nee Shepard) DeBruin passed away on January 5, 2020 in Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.  She was born Shirley Smith on 6-26-1936 in the old Milwaukee County Hospital to a young couple who could not afford to keep her during the 1930s depression.  At age 5 Janet was adopted by Elmer and Beatrice Shepard of Waterford, WI. to join them and her new brothers John and Willard Shepard.  Elmer was a Methodist minister strongly supported in church activities by his wife Beatrice.  

Jan graduated from Waterford, WI High School in 1954; became a Licensed Practical Nurse; attended colleges in Whitewater, WI, Sheboygan, WI and then graduated with a B.A. in Biology from National College of Kansas City in 1963.

She worked for two years in Oklahoma City as a social worker before returning to Wisconsin in 1965.  She said that she missed the changing seasons.  There she worked as an admissions worker in County General Hospital in Milwaukee and then found a job as a medical research technician in the Veterans Administration.  That led  to medical research jobs in the Milwaukee Eye Institute, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and then the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Jan developed her skills to become very competent with an ultra micro tome needed to cut the extremely thin sections needed for electron microscopy and also with the operation of transmission and scanning electron microscopes that included photography to record data from the microscopes.  Jan was a superb, trustworthy and reliable technician who paid attention to detail.  She was included as a co-investigator in papers published by major ophthalmology journals.  She worked in a group that did pioneering work involving electron microscopy of eye corneas and corneal diseases.

For a number of years, Jan played for Milwaukee women's amateur slow pitch softball teams and later managed a women's slow pitch softball team for several years with an admirable amount of success and trophies.  She was a patient and cool-tempered manager respected by her players.  Jan loved to play and coach slow pitch softball.

In 1966 she was introduced to Bill (Willard H.) DeBruin by mutual friends.  Jan and Bill were married on 7-20-1968.  She retired in 2001 to join Bill, already retired to spend more time with travel to Florida and trips to their weekend house in Wautoma, WI that Jan and Bill built almost entirely with their own hands.  Jan was a willing nail pounder, a skilled interior decorator and could install wallpaper.  She was an excellent cook who would turn out a delicious meal in short order.

Jan was dearly loved by anyone who knew her and especially by her husband Bill, her brothers, sisters-in-law and her nieces and nephews and will be remembered and missed.  She was a cancer survivor, showing great courage and calmness during that difficult time 40 years ago.  She was preceded in death by her parents, her two brothers and a sister-in-law. She was a smart lady having a kind, modest demeanor with just the right amount of quiet, good natured humor and was a bit sassy now and then.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.