Be the first to share your favorite memory, photo or story of
Janice.
This memorial page is dedicated for family, friends and future generations to celebrate
the life of their loved one.
We ask on behalf of the family that you keep your comments uplifting and appropriate
to help all who come here to find comfort and healing.
Obituary for Janice Ilene Day Watson
Janice Ilene Day Watson, age 91, of Sarahsville, Ohio, passed away Monday, Sepember 4, 2017, at Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Cambridge. She was born March 25, 1926, in Milwood Township, Guernsey County, a descendant of John Hall, the founder of Quaker City. Later her parents, father Amos Abner Day and mother Laura Beatrice Robinson Day, moved to 1305 North Street in Caldwell, where they raised Janice and two sons, Neil Day, and the late Amos Day, Jr. Janice attended and graduated from Caldwell High School, and during her sophomore year, she and a classmate rode their bicycles from Caldwell to Yoker Valley to visit her mother’s sister, Ruth. Along the way to Aunt Ruth’s (now Route 147), Janice and her girlfriend stopped to have a picnic lunch in a grove of shade trees. She did not know it at the time, but the place where they sat and ate was on land owned by Garfield and Ellen Barker Watson. Two years later, on May 9, 1944, Janice married one of Garfield and Ellen’s sons, John R. Watson.
When Garfield died, John and Janice moved into the big farmhouse near Mt. Ephraim, which was built in 1869, 10 years earlier than the Yoker Valley farmhouse in which she was born. Janice was a farmer’s wife. She was an excellent cook and homemaker, but she also enjoyed working in Cambridge in the credit departments at Montgomery Ward, Sears, Bender Motors, and at the Credit Office. She loved her family unconditionally. She was Christian and relied on her faith to get her through several personal and family illnesses and loss. Janice was raised Baptist. She became a member of the Mt. Ephraim United Methodist Church after her marriage.
John and Janice had four children, including three who preceded them in death: son John, Jr., who died in infancy, daughter Sandra Watson McDonald, who died in 1968 at the age of 24, daughter Peggy Watson Ruppel, who died in 2009 at the age of 55; and they were also preceded in death by a son-in-law, David Ruppel, in 1999. After her husband John’s death on April 1, 2012, Janice’s health began to decline and she was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Janice lived on the family farm until July, 2015, when she moved to Cambridge Place on Deerpath Drive in Cambridge.
Her survivors include her son and daughter-in-law, David and Kathy Watson of Sarahsville; her grandchildren, Lisa McDonald Loos and her husband, David Loos, of Cambridge, Zachary Ruppel of Chillicothe, Paige Ruppel of Columbus, Cassandra Watson and her husband, Kevin Pore, of Columbus, and Heath Watson of Sarahsville; great-grandsons, David Christian, William, and Lee Loos, all of Cambridge; her brother, Neil (Vella) Day of Cambridge; a niece, Devanie Day of Coshocton; a nephew, Forrest (Megan) Day of Marysville; several nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews by marriage; and special friends, Sandra Harmon and Carol Kirkbride.
Friends may call Sunday, September 10, 2017, from 1-3PM at McVay-Perkins Funeral Home, 416 East Street, Caldwell, where the funeral service will follow visitation at 3PM. Burial will follow at Mt. Ephraim Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Mt. Ephraim United Methodist Church, 51037 Mud Run Road, Sarahsville, Ohio, 43779.
