Jane Elizabeth Fortin

Jane passed away peacefully in her home in Topeka, Kansas on August 13, 2024, at the age of 92, after a life of love, sacrifice and adventure. She lost her beloved husband of 66 years, Paul, in July 2023. Jane is survived by her children: David Fortin, Joan Fortin Peterson, Suzanne Fortin, and John Fortin. She also is survived by 9 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren.

Jane was born on July 23, 1932, in Kansas City, Kansas, the daughter of Edward Bock and Dorothy (Smith) Bock. She had one sister, Judy, who she loved dearly and lost too soon. Jane attended Blessed Sacrament School (Kansas City, KS) and graduated from Bishop Ward High School (Kansas City, KS) in 1950. Jane was extremely bright and interested in the world around her. She dreamed of becoming a doctor or scientist but was stymied by the attitudes and roadblocks to women of the time and had to limit her aspirations. However, she took satisfaction in seeing her children and grandchildren excelling in the medical, engineering, and scientific fields. She became the first woman in her family to attend college, graduating with a B.S. in Education from the University of Kansas in 1954, meeting lifelong “sisters” as a member of Sigma Kappa sorority. She went on to earn her Master’s Degree in Special Education in 1993. She never stopped her quest of learning, attending night school at Washburn University while teaching at several elementary schools in Topeka, Kansas. While attending Washburn University night school classes in French and Astronomy, she met the love of her life - Paul. Jane and Paul were married August 10, 1957, at Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Topeka, Kansas.

We all speak of military service and to respect those who have served. But there are the forgotten ones, those who support without reward or recognition. Jane was one of those forgotten servants, the supporting wife of a U.S Air Force officer. She served our country in ways that are rarely honored. Jane’s married life took her to numerous places including Alabama, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, and Missouri. Jane was an unsung hero of a military family. Alone she endured the loss of her son Timothy. Multiple times she had the role of a single parent raising four children during Paul’s deployments. She experienced many nerve-racking days and nights waiting to hear back from Paul after his plane was shot down during the Viet Nam war. She experienced harassment being the wife of a military officer. All the while, she shielded her children from fear and hateful words. Jane packed up and moved the family by herself at least nine times. Each new place she made earnest efforts to find activities to bring stability to her kid’s lives - Boy Scouts, Camp Fire, baseball, soccer, ballet, etc., so that her kids had a sense of belonging. Jane earned no medals but served her country with honor and forbearance.

Service to her country ended in 1980 after Paul retired from the U.S. Air Force. The family moved back to Jane’s “roots” in Kansas. Retirement life brought adventure, she traveled to every continent, including Antarctica. She enjoyed traveling, volunteering, and teaching, and combined the three by teaching children and adults, along with building infrastructure in Jamaica, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, China, Poland, Cook Islands, and the Navajo Nation. She walked trails of the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, Mount Rainier, Mount Kilimanjaro, Pikes Peak, the foothills of the Himalayas and the Appalachian Trail. She and Paul drove the Al-Can Highway twice. She camped in the wilds of Alaska, dipped her toes in the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. In 2003, she, Paul, and her son John, hiked down and back to Paradise Ranch Grand Canyon. More adventure awaited her when along with Paul they built and lived in a cabin part time on Wild Horse Mesa, Colorado from 2004 to 2017. She loved traveling, seeing, and learning about unfamiliar cultures and leaving a little of her warm spirit wherever she went.

Besides travelling, Jane loved music. She had a beautiful voice and was a skilled piano and organ player, and we were blessed to hear her play and sing in parish choirs, weddings, recitals, and musicals. Her knowledge of music and composition was vast, she was a “Name That Tune” champion when it came to opera, musicals, and classical music. She especially enjoyed the music of Christmas and Easter, attending concerts and playing her favorite music throughout the days preceding and following these holidays.

Jane sought guidance and solace through prayer; her core values rooted in her deep Catholic faith. Honoring God was a part of every family celebration. She led a life of grace and was a kind and generous person. She was active in every parish she attended, especially as it related to music and singing. Jane gave to those in need, whether back-to-school supply drives, food for those in need, funds for medical care or homeless pets. She never forgot a birthday or an anniversary - family, friends and even acquaintances. She had life-long friends from her childhood in Kansas City, her Sigma Kappa sisters, and friends she met during Paul’s military career.

You could never take the Kansas girl out of Jane. She spoke fondly of working on her Great uncle’s farm in Kansas City, Kansas and taking the streetcar to see her grandfather at his pharmacy in Independence, Missouri, where she once sat on the knee of President Harry Truman and ate an ice cream cone. As a girl, she often visited her pioneer grandparents in Goodland, Kansas, working in her grandfather’s hardware store and walking the farmland he homesteaded near Kanorado, Kansas in the 1800s. She continued tending the Earth, working along Paul at their farmland near Globe, Kansas and planting her flowers in every house she blessed. She loved the fields of Kansas sunflowers, the vivid Kansas sunsets, gazed at Kansas’s dark, star-filled, night skies, and watched thunderstorms roll across the Kansas plains with her daughter. Kansas has lost a bright soul, but she has left to be with two of her greatest loves - dad (Paul) and God. May you rest in peace mom, we miss you so.

A funeral Mass will be held at Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Topeka Kansas on Saturday, October 5th at 11 am.