Janet Marie Bontrager

Janet Marie Bontrager: May 23, 1937 – February 2, 2025

LONGVIEW- Born to Donald Lee and Mary Alice (Price) Hoffman in Farmer City, Illinois.
Married Clell Eugene Bontrager on May 16, 1953.

Her siblings and spouses, all younger are Jerry (Susie) Hoffman, Joan Perhay (Bill deceased) and Jim Hoffman (John Hayes deceased).

She met Clell while he was visiting her small town from his post at Chanute Airfield in Illinois. Janet and Clell were married at Weedman Methodist Church in Farmer City, and shared each other’s life for the next 71 1/2 years.  They traveled to Clell’s posts in the Air Force from Portland Oregon to Presque Isle Maine and places in-between for several years, packing all they owned in the back of their car.

Clell’s work and educational opportunities took them from Hutchinson, Kansas where she worked part time in the collection office of Sears, to San Jose, California, where she found work at O’Conner Hospital office in San Jose. In 1966 the family moved to San Bruno California where she started working at Pacific Airlines (and many mergers later) finished her career at Northwest Airlines, where she worked until she retired at age 57.

After their children were grown and gone, they loved to travel, sometimes on tours and sometimes on their own, going to Russia, China, Europe, Mexico and all over the United States.

Janet is survived by her husband, Clell, her children, Janell (Mark Atkinson), Jeff (Becky) Bontrager, Jill (Jim Johnson), Jay (Remie) Bontrager, along with 15 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

Janet was finally relieved of her suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Her celebration of life will be held on March 1, 2025, at 11 am at Robert Gray Baptist Church in Longview, Washington.