Janis Wickland

Janis Wickland, 82, of Robinson, IL, formerly of San Francisco, CA, passed away peacefully with her family by her side on December 26, 2025, at Robinson Rehab & Nursing.

If you wanted a picture of Janis, you could start with her hands. They were capable and steady, the kind of hands that could turn a flat piece of fabric into something beautiful and lasting. She believed the inside should look as good as the outside, that what no one sees still matters. That was not just how she sewed. That was how she lived. With care. With intention. With a love that did not cut corners.

Janis was born on October 25, 1943, in San Francisco, CA, and she grew up there, shaped by the movement and color of the city. San Francisco gave her a certain strength, a readiness to meet life as it came, and when life asked her to begin again, she did. It was there she met her future husband while he was stationed in California in the service. She followed him to the Midwest, taking what she knew and stitching it into a new place, a new home, a new life.

Janis served as secretary for the Hartford Police Department in Hartford, IL, and continued in a similar role when the police chief became the Madison County Sheriff. She was the kind of presence that kept things moving, the calm center in every busy day. But a heart attack changed that season and ended her career early. It was a hard turning, one she did not choose, but Janis was not the kind of woman who quit when life tried to get her down. She adjusted. She rebuilt. She kept finding ways to give what she had. Often, that giving took the simplest form: something made. Something mended. Something brought to the table. Janis had a way of turning ordinary things into comforts, whether it was with thread in her hands or a dish she set down in front of people she loved.

She could look at a piece of fabric and see what it could become. She could take something worn and make it right again, not just passable, but beautiful, finished, as though it had always been meant to be that way. She did not believe in sloppy work. The details mattered. And when she gave something she had made, she was giving more than a garment or a hemline. She was giving her care, stitched into every seam. And when her giving came from her kitchen, it came from the same heart. She noticed what people liked, what brought them back for one more bite, what made a gathering feel like a gathering. Her deviled eggs (which she called "angel eggs") were famous, the kind people asked about ahead of time and looked for the moment they arrived. She brought them early, because she knew they wouldn't last (and yes, they were usually gone before the party ever really got started). Her coleslaw was just as carefully done, just as unmistakably hers.

Continued health concerns brought Janis to Robinson, where she chose to be nearer to family and to keep doing what she had always done, just within reach of the people she loved most. And it did not stop with family. Janis had a way of letting care spill outward. She volunteered in the gift shop at Crawford Memorial Hospital, offering warmth in a place where people often needed it. And because Janis also knew that life needs joy, not just duty, she found it on the dance floor. Senior dances in the area became more than a way to exercise three times a week. It became her way of staying alive to the moment. She loved getting dressed up. She appreciated being told she was light on her feet. She liked the music and the movement, and she liked being herself in a room full of people. Now and then, her prowess and charm drew a little extra attention, and not everyone knew what to do with that, but Janis never lived to shrink. She stood tall, smiled, and kept on living.

And at the center of that living was family. Janis loved them and was fiercely protective of her girls. She had lived through her share of hard things, and because she knew what hard could do, she wanted better for them. They were her focus, her pride, her daily concern, and her deepest joy. She believed in loving wide, but she also believed in standing her ground against closed minds. Janis could be spunky. You did not want to make her mad, and you did not want to mess with her family. She had a fighter's heart, and she used it, again and again, when her own body turned into a battleground. A massive heart attack at 45 could not keep her down. Breast cancer could not steal her resolve. Strokes could not silence her spirit. Time after time, she absorbed blow after blow and found her footing again and again. The family called her "Wonder Woman" because she always seemed to bounce back.

Her strength did not come from pretending the fight was easy. It came from a faith that had been tested and held. Janis's faith was not theoretical. It was forged in hospital rooms and long recoveries, in prayers whispered when her body was tired and her days uncertain. And still, she trusted God. That trust became her anchor, steadying her through every hard season. Now her fight is finished. The faith that carried her through has carried her home, and she rests in the presence of Jesus, the One she trusted all along.

She is survived by two daughters & sons-in-law, Kim & Albert "Butch" Woods and Wendy & Andrew Teare; her "adopted" daughter, Penny Raymond; her grandchildren, Bobby Jo Garza, Sydney Teare, Drew Teare, Tyler Teare, Kyle Haas, Mikayla Woods, Albert "A.J." Woods, Justin Telford, Candice Wallace, Alaina Woods, Bobby Jo Garza, Sydney Teare, Drew Teare, and Tyler Teare; several great-grandchildren; her brother & sister-in-law, Greg & Stephanie Garcia; her nephew, Nick Garcia; and her niece, Meghan Garcia-Metcalfe. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister, Donna, and her son, Mark Garza.

The family would like to thank all the healthcare workers and everyone who had a hand in caring for Janis.

Janis is to be cremated without a public service, and the Goodwine Funeral Home in Robinson is assisting the family at this time. In recognition of Janis's journey with breast cancer, memorial contributions may be made to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and online donations may be made using the link below.