Plan for the Future
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Janet Rose Keymetian (née Thompson) of Mountainside, passed away on June 27, 2024. She was 77.
Born at Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital to the late Anna Thompson (née Casilli) and Henry Thompson, she graduated from Hoboken High School. She then attended Rutgers School of Nursing. She married her high school sweetheart, Robert, to whom she was married for 49 years prior to his passing in 2019. They built a life together in Teaneck where they raised two daughters and assisted many of their daughter’s friends when they were in need. Janet started her career in nursing, leaving to raise her children. While her children were still young, she went to Mary Mount Manhattan College earning her Bachelor of Arts. She went back to work outside the home in various office settings. She founded a small business, Marjan Construction, with her husband and contributed in many ways to that work. She finished her career with Merck Medco as their Fleet and Travel Administrator. She retired early to care for her father-in-law whom she moved into the family home in Chester. She spent many hours driving country roads to give him a change of scenery and helping him sew quilts for Project Linus. Family was very important to her. She was a talented cook, hosted many holidays and family parties, and passed on Armenian food traditions to her daughters even though she was not Armenian herself.
Janet had a lot of energy and was always using it to help someone. During high school she was a member of the Civil Air Patrol. She helped care for her two younger sisters and the family home as both of her parents worked in New York City. She was a self-taught seamstress who sewed her own clothes and helped her sisters with uniforms, dresses, and whatever else was needed. Later in life she was an avid quilter and member of the Evening Star Quilters Guild in Belvidere, NJ where she assisted in many projects including Quilts of Valor. She also painted in acrylics, crocheted, and was a talented one-stroke painter. She was a pioneer in VBAC delivery and founded the Cesarean Support Group, hosting meetings in her home. She was “strong as an ox” and there wasn’t a hand or power tool in the household’s considerable inventory that she couldn’t use.
Janet liked to laugh and had a great sense of humor. She was a great audience as well as an expert raconteur of misadventure stories. She liked to “go for a ride” in the car and was happy with simple pleasures like visiting a diner for breakfast or enjoying a chocolate malted milkshake in the minivan. She was curious, intelligent, capable, strong, and a life-long learner. She loved people fiercely and many people benefitted from her iron will, bountiful courage, and remarkable generosity. She cared about people deeply and selflessly, often putting their needs before her own. If she loved you, you were very lucky: That includes people, cats, dogs, and her beloved finches. She was a friend to all animals but especially her own pets and those she was grandma to.
Janet was the beloved wife of the late Robert H. Keymetian. She was the loving mother to: Janet V. Keymetian-McBride and her husband Michael T. McBride of Springfield; and Margaret Ng and her husband Ed Ng of Mountain Lakes. She was the doting grandma of Emma and Ethan Ng. She was the devoted sister of Dr. Ann Thompson of Plymouth, MA and Henry Thompson of Antelope, CA. She was sister-in-law to Mary Surgun Thompson, of Antelope, CA; Eric Treworgy and Karlton Holmes of Surry, ME; and Edward and Linda Keymetian of Lincoln Park, NJ.
