Janet Mary Ready

February 26, 1947 - May 31, 2021

Janet Mary Ready, 74 of Traverse City, MI passed away Monday, May 31, 2021 at her home surrounded by her loving family. Jan was born on February 26, 1947 in Monroe, Michigan to Robert and Mary (Wing) St. Pierre. She married Michael Joseph Ready on September 29, 1967. Together they lovingly raised four wonderful sons, Tak, Matt, Ben and Chris. It was in the Catholic schools of Monroe where she first met Mike, the love of her life. Jan had known him since they were very little, and they started dating in their late teens. She graduated high school from St. Mary Academy in 1965 and went on to the Mercy School of Nursing in Toledo, Ohio where she received a nursing degree in 1968. Jan always credited the Immaculate Heart of Mary nuns and her all-girl education for her leadership skills. She and Mike started a family soon after getting married. They lived in Monroe, Detroit and Charlevoix before moving to Traverse City in 1977. Over the span of her nursing and community service career, Jan worked as president of a local March of Dimes, and taught Lamaze childbirth and early parenting classes to teen moms as well as to special-needs moms. The longest chapter of her career however left the most indelible impact on our community. In 1994, Jan became the first Parish Nurse of Immaculate Conception Church. For the next 22 years she led a Health Ministry team comprised of hundreds of compassionate volunteers. Jan and the team she coordinated made thousands of home visits to bring comfort to the sick, dying, grieving and homebound members of the church. Her organizational savvy, people-skills and passion for the work earned her a second title as IC’s Volunteer Coordinator. After recruiting and training volunteers, she matched their skill sets with the ever-changing needs of the parishioners they visited. Jan retained volunteers by making sure they felt good about their contributions. The Health Ministry remains an essential part of the church’s ministry today. It is based on the Christian value Jan herself most embodied: service. Outside her professional capacity, Jan served her sick husband, her growing sons, her ailing parents and in-laws, her friends and neighbors seeking a sense of importance and belonging in their lives, her siblings who looked up to her, and her grandchildren who honored her as the foundation of the Ready family. She served whomever she met, wherever she was. Though her strength (and perhaps pride) made it hard for her to accept help at times, she gave help naturally and selflessly. Service was her life. Jan was small in stature but large in personality. She was an amazing cook but gave herself little credit. The delicious meals she made brought her community together, but it was red wine, her charm and love of conversation that kept people at the table long after their bellies had filled. Jan loved to talk about literature, politics, gardening, cooking and her faith community. More than anything, she loved people and trying to figure them out. She cried rarely and laughed easily. Jan traveled to Ireland, the Netherlands, other parts of Europe, Costa Rica and many places in the United States. Her favorite trip however was only one hour away to The Ready Family Cottage on Lake Charlevoix. There the world boiled down to what she loved most: her family, a good book in the sun, her toes in the water, delicious meals and conversations around a bonfire. Surviving Jan are her sons, Tak Ready of Traverse City, Matt (fiancée Dawn Marie Coe) Ready of Grand Rapids, Ben (Janet) Ready of Colorado, Chris (Katherine) Ready of Traverse City, grandchildren, Michael, Megan, Stephen, Iggy, Luna, Chela, William, Louis, Katerina and Victor, her siblings, Bob (Joann) St. Pierre, Jimmy (Carol) St. Pierre, Alan (Donna) St. Pierre, Jill (John) Gagnon and many other loving family members and friends. Jan is preceded in death by her parents and her husband Michael. Visitation will be held at Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home on Tuesday, June 8, 2021 from 4-7pm with a Rosary and sharing time at 4. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place on Wednesday, June 9 at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church at 11am with a visitation beginning at 10am. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be directed to the Traverse Health Clinic or The Women’s Resource Center. The Rosary and sharing time will be live streamed at www.rjfh.tv and The Mass at www.immaculatetc.org/mass-videos/