Janies Rae ADAMS Obituary

Sep 2, 1947 - Mar 12, 2026

Janis Rae Adams, age 78, beloved family member and devoted Christian, passed into the presence of her Savior on March 12, 2026 after a lengthy illness.

Janis was born September 2, 1947 to Raymond and Clara (Hagglund) Adams in Spokane, Washington. She was the first born of three siblings. Janis grew up near the Perry District. Childhood for Janis was a time of hopscotch, bike riding, and playing kickball/baseball in the vacant lot behind her house. Janis was proud to be a member of the last class at Grant Grade School to attend kindergarten through eighth grade. After graduating from Lewis and Clark High School in 1965, Janis attended and graduated from Linfield College in McMinnville, Oregon with a teaching degree.

Following graduation, she traveled with a classmate to Davos, Switzerland. There they did odd jobs including working as hotel maids. On that same trip she traveled, not back home, but alone to New Zealand. During a lengthy stay in NZ she made a life changing connection and moved into the home of a family she referred to as "My New Zealand Family." That connection was nurtured with a return visit in 1990 and decades of weekly phone calls.

Two years after graduation, Janis put her degree to use and taught Algebra in Klamath Falls, Oregon. There, over two years, she discovered that teaching 14 year olds is not all it's cracked up to be.

In 1973 she moved to Salem, Oregon and had a 29 year career in payroll with the Oregon State Department of Justice. Following her DOJ career, Janis worked as a substitute teacher's aide in Salem. She described that job, working with primary age children, as "the most fun job I ever had."

Janis had an amazing talent and passion to make personalized cards for people in her life. She was a skilled seamstress. She made Christmas cookies that her brother rated as "solid ten." She enjoyed taking elderly people on Sunday Drives, usually taking "The Road Less Traveled." She took numerous road trips armed only with her paper map. She loved her church life in Salem, especially choir and playing piano.

In 2010 Janis returned to Spokane. She joined Valley Fourth Church that offered her a warm and welcoming fellowship. She was a prolific walker. She walked her first Bloomsday in 2011 and did thirteen more. A great joy, after returning to Spokane, was 14 years being a volunteer at McDonald Elementary in Central Valley School District. A teacher she worked with described her as "dedicated, diligent, generous and passionate about student learning and success."

Janis was preceded in death by her parents and her sister Anne Marie Adams (1971). She is survived by her brother Thomas (Donna) Adams, nephew Carl Adams, niece Cheryl (Brian) Wynne, great-nephew Rhys Wynne and great-niece Lorelei Wynne.

Graveside service will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 4th at Fairmount, 5200 W. Wellesley Ave., Spokane, WA 99205. A memorial service will also be held on Saturday, April 4th at 3 p.m. Valley Fourth Church is located at 2303 S. Bowdish, Spokane Valley, WA 99206.