Janice Magnuson
June 12, 1944 – May 21, 2024
Janice “Jan” Marie (Sampson) Magnuson was born June 12, 1944, in Tacoma, WA. Her father worked for Nalley’s Potato Chips and moved the family from Tacoma to Billings, MT, to Albuquerque, NM, where Jan graduated high school. She returned to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, where she got her degree in speech pathology. She married Joel Magnuson in Seattle, March 20, 1971. Jan worked primarily as a homemaker but also part time as a nurse at her children’s schools.
She found many creative outlets through her church, such as directing a summer camp for middle school girls, leading Vacation Bible School, teaching Sunday school, and singing in the church choir.
In the last four years of her life, Jan struggled with Alzheimer’s disease. She died May 21, just shy of her 80th birthday. She is survived by her husband, Joel, now residing in Bellingham; their children, Brian, who resides in Seattle, and Sara (Mike), who resides in Denver, CO; two grandchildren; and her sister, Jo (Ron) of Spokane, WA.
Her life will be celebrated June 12 at 3 p.m. at Birch Bay Bible Community Church, where she and Joel attended faithfully for twenty years.