East Longmeadow community celebrates life of Janice Michaelis

Nov. 23, 2016 | Debbie Gardner
debbieg@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW – Every table was filled as were the chairs set up before the podium. As 2 p.m. approached, Senior Center staff scrambled to arrange additional seating as mourners continued to pour in. There weren’t enough programs, or nearly enough chairs, and Senior Center Director Carolyn Brennan apologized for the lack, noting that the crowd was a testament to Janice’s life and impact at the center.

In all nearly 150 people crowded into the community room of the town’s Pleasant View Senior Center on Nov. 12 to remember the center’s longtime Community Service Coordinator Janice Michaelis, who at 69, passed away suddenly on Oct. 26.

“This is not a memorial, this is a celebration of Janice’s life,” Brennan said as she thanked everyone for attending on behalf of the Council on Aging and Janice’s family. “We were all recipients of her incredible gift of empathy and compassion.”

State Rep. Brian Ashe, who came to represent state Sen. Eric Lesser and state Rep. Angelo Puppolo, noted, “It really is a big family here. Anyone who didn’t know Janice, who didn’t know about her character and the person that she was, just walking in this room and seeing the number of peopled and the faces, that’s a testament to the kind of person she was.

“She gave so much of her life to the Senior Center,” Ashe, who said he was attending not just as a state representative, but also a friend. “It wasn’t just a job, it was a big part of her life. From the bottom of my heart, from the governor to the House of Representatives, we offer or sincerest condolences.”

Center Nurse and Health Educator Lissa Fontaine, who first met Michaelis as outreach workers in Hampden, said of her co-worker, “Everyone knew or had heard of Janice Michaelis in East Longmeadow, she was known as the grandmother of outreach in Western Massachusetts.

“Within mere hours of her passing, Caroline was receiving condolence calls from all over town, from the community, with people stopping into the Senior Center on an ongoing basis,” Fontaine continued.

She noted how Michaelis always had time for someone who stopped by her office – be they a client or staff member – who treated everyone with compassion and respect, who worked to find a way to help everyone who needed her help, and who met every crisis at the Center with the statement, “Has the roof caved in? Is the building on fire? Then we can handle this.

“We will go on as only Janice would expect,” Fontaine said. “We will live our lives to make her proud, to continue her legacy of compassion and kindness, to be the calm in the storm.”

Former East Longmeadow Police Chief Doug Mellis, who worked with Michaelis as a member of the community triad for years, openly admitted he had been “doing fine until I walked into this room.”

Remembering the gift Michaelis had for connecting with the town’s elder residents in all situations and conditions, Mellis said, “The seniors living in this community had a true friend in Janice,” and thanked the family for “sharing her with us.”   

Looking out over the mourners, Michaelis’ friend Barbara Gallo noted, “There are a lot of people here. Janice would have loved that.

“Janice was a loving, caring person and she cared deeply about this place and the people that she worked for,” Gallo continued.    

Brennan also told the gathering, “I can’t tell you how much your presence here has touched the family and her work family.”

Pastor Tim Sheranko of the First Baptist Church of East Longmeadow, closed the service as he had opened it, with words of comfort and encouragement for the mourners, followed by the singing of the hymn, “In the Garden.”

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