Janice (Jan) Catherine Budeski, 87, Great Falls, MT was called home by the Lord on October 8, 2018. Jan was born October 24, 1930 in Melrose, Minnesota, the second oldest in a large Catholic family that included 11 children.
At 12 years old Jan and the family moved to Great Falls following their dad who had landed a job helping building Malmstrom AFB. Jan attended St Mary’s Catholic School and graduated from high school in 1948.
While in high school and at Pete’s Drive Inn, Jan met the love of her life, Ron Budeski. She has told the story many times that she told her girlfriend’s that she was going to “marry that man” the first night they met, which she did in 1950. They were blessed with six children and spent nearly 65 wonderful years together until Ronnie’s passing in 2015.
Jan was an amazing woman and mom. She worked 2 jobs most of her adult life. One for hire and the other for love. On the hire side she worked in a variety of positions including, sewing tents, retail sales, bookkeeping, wall paper hanger, interior decorator and along side Ronnie remodeling and building homes.
On the love side, Jan was truly an amazing Mom and Wife. She always made sure all the kids and dad was well taken care of. She grew a garden in the backyard next to the apple trees and canned the vegetables and fruit for the winter months. She was also an amazing cook and baker and made the most delicious meals and apple and lemon meringue pies.
She knitted all the kids mittens and slippers in the fall to keep us warm during the cold winter months and made sure we had clean clothes everyday for school or play. Many nights Jan would stay up till the early morning hours sewing the girls new dresses for that “special occasion” and she always had that extra time for us that has given us our own very special memories.
The Catholic Faith was always at the center of Jan’s life. She made sure all her kids attended Catholic School and was deeply devoted to the Catholic Church. Jan had a huge generous heart when it came to supporting the Church through Catholic Daughters, the Altar Society and Catholics for Life.
Jan was also a Eucharistic Minister taking communion to the home bound while generously helping the hungry, sick, and crippled children around the world. Jan was passionate for the unborn child and participated in many Right to Life events and rallies including traveling to Washington DC with her dear friend Helen Mears for a national rally. There wasn’t a night that she didn’t recite the rosary with Ronnie for their family, the unborn and many other special intentions.
After Jan retired from her hire side of life, she took to her sewing machine almost daily making quilts and gorgeous baptismal gowns. In their retirement years, Jan and Ronnie enjoyed travel and visiting family and friends. Jan traveled to Europe, Alaska and Hawaii with her sisters and friend. While in Hawaii, she was one of the oldest women to go parasailing and hula dancing and enjoyed every minute of it.
After Ron’s death in 2015 Jan moved to Bozeman, MT to be close to her family. In our Mother’s own words, “I lived a fulfilled life and I had a lot of life in those years.”
To read the complete obituary and share condolences, visit the Schnider Funeral Home website.
