Janet Coleman

Kate Johnson and Scott Berry's Memories of Janet We all know Janet to have been a most interesting person. Her beauty, taste, intelligence, highly sophisticated sartorial style as well as her talent as a painter and photographer, was always remarked about. Many times, right up to the present, after friends of ours would meet her, they wanted to know more about her and how they could spend more time with her. We, of course, had the privilege of spending more time with her than any of our friends or relatives since meeting her in 1969, the year we met each other. We had known Janet for a few years, when one day Kate was reading “Public Notices” in the STrib (the only time in her life the she did this!), There was a notice that Janet Coleman was marrying Steve Sjoblad! Can’t remember how we sussed out that they were at the Marquette Hotel, but we had a bottle of champagne in the fridge and they invited us to come down and celebrate with them. Being pre cell phones, they must have called us. In the late 70s and throughout the 80s, most of our time other than at work was spent with Janet and Steve including many weekends to our tent on Lake Superior and then new cabin we built in 1980. In 1977, while driving to our tent with them, we asked if they would be witnesses in our marriage ceremony which was to take place in Lutsen at the last MN Justice of the Peace’s home. They agreed and Janet became Scott’s best person and Steve Kate’s. In 2008, Kate and Janet were planning a low-cost safari trip in South Africa, when Janet sent Kate photo-copies of several articles about the Skeleton Coast of Namibia. They were both intrigued by stories of the desert-adapted elephants, so they extended their original safari to include Namibia, and thus began two lifelong love affairs with that extraordinary country on the SW Atlantic coast of Africa. Kate and Janet went back in 2010, adding a few days in Botswana, where they were poled through the Okavango Delta in makoros and slept one night in the open, on the Makhadikahdi pan. In Nambia, again, Kate learned what a fearless dare-devil Janet is when she raced her 4x4 at top speeds, leaving our guide in the dust! Following that trip, Scott who chose not to join them on the first two Africa trips, thought he should experience these places himself so that he could understand the profound impact they had on Janet and Kate. So began plans for a 2013 trip for Scott and Kate. One day Scott asked, “You don’t suppose that Janet would like to join us.?” Cheers rang out! And, as it turned out, there were several days that Kate spent in a hospital in Windhoek, Namibia, but Scott and Janet were able to finish the itinerary in the dunes of Sossusvlei. Photos from this adventure show how profoundly happy they were in this exquisite, primal environment. If it weren’t for Janet, there are lots of places and experiences that we might never have tried. For Kate’s 65th birthday, she wanted to canoe down the Missouri River, a 5 day trip that involved doing one’s “business” on the “Groover” a mere bucket! By some wonderful stroke of luck, Janet and Lyn Glenn were game for joining this Lewis and Clark themed adventure where we learned, among other things, to “boulder” in the coulees. Finally, we realized that Janet has spent more time with us at our North Shore cabin than anyone else. She was always here for the New Year’s holiday, when we’ve celebrated with dog sled and sleigh rides in sub-zero temperatures…all great fun and exhilarating! The cabin reverberates with memories of Janet, including her almost abstract photo of taconite piles at Silver Bay that greets us every morning as we come down to stairs to make coffee. We miss her so very much.