Janet Kenton Booker

Janet Kenton Booker, 85, of Natick passed away on December 27, 2024, in her home surrounded by her family with her husband at her side. 

Janet was the beloved wife of Jay W. Booker with whom she shared the same birthdate, August 3rd. The devoted mother of Kimberlee Schmid and Julie Miller and their husband’s Justin Schmid and Richard Miller. Loving grandmother, in order of their birth, to Katie Miller, Skylar Schmid, Ryan Miller, Madison Schmid, Andrew Miller, and Garrett Schmid. Cherished sister to Carol Kenton and her brother Bruce Kenton.

Janet was born in Washburn, Wisconsin to the late Francis Holladay Kenton Jr. and Bernice Stoddard Kenton. She moved to Wilmington, Delaware when she was in first grade and met her lifelong friend Patty Golden on the first day of school. Janet met her husband Jay on a blind date when she was a sophomore at the University of Delaware. She fell head over heels in love when he took her for a drive in his red MG and drove it into the middle of a cornfield. Their love story would span 64 years of marriage.

Jay and Janet would marry in a candlelight ceremony on December 27th, 1960 and their first daughter, Kim, would be born several years later. Although Janet loved being a wife and mother, she became restless as she had always dreamed of helping the underprivileged in the inner city. She pursued a master’s degree in education at her alma mater and then just after her second daughter, Julie, was born, she took a job at the Elementary Workshop Montessori School in Wilmington’s inner city.

Jay built a beautiful hillside contemporary home for Janet and the girls. It was to be their retirement home eventually. However, the energy crisis in the mid 1970’s made Janet fearful that the economy might fall apart, and she was intrigued with the thought of living some place where they could be self-sufficient. They decided that it was time to start over so they sold their brand new home in Delaware and moved into a farm house built in 1820 in Springfield, New Hampshire.    

Janet and Jay threw themselves into homesteading in their new home called Calico Farm.   They worked from sunup to sundown – everything was new to them and everything was a challenge.  They ripped out the electric stovetop and replaced it with a wood cookstove.  They borrowed a neighbor’s tractor and plowed the backyard to put in a garden.  They purchased milking goats, chickens, geese, ducks, sheep, and pigs. They tapped the gorgeous maple trees that lined the dirt road to their home and boiled the sap down for syrup.  They split wood for the four stoves that heated the house – their only source of heat.  And Janet, with the help of two high school boys, jacked up the house and replaced the rotting sills.  

After a year of focusing solely on homesteading, Janet and Jay realized that they needed to earn an income.   Janet was hired to start the first kindergarten program in Springfield and was a beloved teacher to the town’s children for more than ten years.  When Jay opened his construction business, Janet worked by his side as his office manager for several decades.  Janet also became very involved with the Town of Springfield and served as the Chairman of the Planning Board and was a contributing member of the Springfield Historical Society.

Janet was an amazing mother to her two girls and believed in giving them responsibility early and providing endless support and love. It is no surprise that she also was determined to be very involved in her grandchildren’s lives. To achieve this goal, while maintaining the farm, she and Jay bought a second home in Natick, MA, right next to the two homes owned by her daughters. It became the “grandmother” house. She and Jay split their time between the two homes, driving two hours between the two locations so that they could be present for their grandchildren’s childhoods. Playtime in the driveway, board games before dinner, walks into town for ice cream, and sleepovers with nighttime lullabies were a constant for all six grandchildren.  

In 2002, Janet commenced researching and documenting the memoirs of her family. In 2009, she published two beautifully bound volumes with 772 gold leaf pages that covered 19 life stories of her parents, grandparents, siblings, children and of course her own. The two volumes are called Dances of Life, and as a gift to her family she printed dozens copies for her children, grandchildren and others.

Although she loved family vacations in Bethany Beach and St Maarten, Janet’s happiest place in this world was sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of Calico Farm looking at the sunset and listening to the trees. She and Jay called Calico Farm home for 44 years. During the final years of her life, she lived in her “grandmother home” in Natick where her children and grandchildren were able to enjoy family time with her – sharing stories, meals and hugs as well expressing appreciation for all that she meant to them.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Janet may be made to an organization researching Parkinson’s disease or a charity of your choice.

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