Janice Rae Curry

Janice Curry, age 72, passed peacefully from this life in January 2020 from cancer. She was at her home overlooking Rock Creek, with family present, and was glad to have “made it” to 2020.
She was born in May 1947 to Dean and Roselyn Thompson of West Union, Illinois. As an only child, she loved playing in a nearby creek, Patchett Ford, and loved her little dog, Tiny. She moved to Seattle, Washington in the late 1960s, to Los Angeles, California in the late 1970s, and to Hillsboro, Oregon in the early 1980s. She called Hillsboro home and was content to stay for almost 40 years.
Jan was a lover of learning, of nature, of God, and of people. She had a curious mind, a generous heart, an energetic spirit, and she went above and beyond in everything she did.
Born to a fastidious, one-room school teacher, Jan valued learning and always gave her best effort. She was co-valedictorian at Martinsville High School and met her husband of many years at a science summer camp in the late 1960s. She completed a master’s degree in biology at the University of Washington in the early 1970s, and went on to teach biology at a Catholic women’s college in Seattle in the mid-1970s. After staying home to raise her children for many years, she resumed teaching biology in Hillsboro in the early 1990s. She later worked as a volunteer coordinator and environmental educator at Jackson Bottom Wetlands for many years and, more recently, at Fernhill Wetlands. A “country girl,” as she called herself, Jan loved nature and animals, especially frogs. She helped to preserve from development the woods now known as Noble Woods in Hillsboro and shared nature facts (about tardigrades, for instance) until her last weeks.
Jan said the best thing she did was to become a mother. She loved her children and was a dedicated mother in both joyful and difficult times. However, her loving devotion to people extended far beyond her children. She always believed in the worth of people. She gave back more than she received, made it fun, and went out of her way to make you feel welcome and special. Communities in which she invested over the years included PTA, softball teams, churches (Hillsboro Foursquare, Sonrise) Bible studies, and circles of dear friends. She brought people together and considered her friends her family. Her knowledge, playfulness, positive attitude, strength, and faithful love will be missed by many. She would likely have told us to keep talking to her.
Jan is survived by her daughter and son, Camille and Christopher Curry, their spouses, Malcolm and Morgan, and by many friends. Her family and friends were her treasure.
Please join us for a celebration of her life on Saturday, February 15, 2020 from 10AM - 3PM  at Jackson Bottom Wetlands Preserve (2600 SW Hillsboro Hwy, Hillsboro, OR 97123). There will be time to share a memory or a reflection on how Jan has impacted you, if you would like to consider or prepare something beforehand. If you would like to take a walk at the preserve afterwards, please bring walking shoes. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Cancer Research Institute, Sonrise Church, Oregon Flora Project, or the Native Plant Society of Portland.
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