JANET WITTE

Janet (Jan) Marie Witte died Saturday, January 26th at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She was 71 years old. She was preceeded in death by her parents, Edward and Pauline(Ridenour) Witte, and her sister, JoAnne Witte Schinbeckler.

Ms. Witte was born on February 7, 1936 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She graduated from South Side High School with the Class of 1954. During those years she spent many summers at her grandparents cottage at Tri Lakes swimming and canoeing with her friends and family members. She graduated from Indiana University in 1958. While attending IU, Janet became a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. Janet relocated to southern California to teach in the public schools. While living there she accepted a position at The University of California, San Diego, the Scripps Institution of Oceanograghy. A book editing position brought Janet back east to Chicago, and later to Fort Wayne for a teaching position in the public schools. It was during her return to Fort Wayne that Janet completed her MA degree from Purdue University. An opportunity to work in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at Nova Universitys Oceanograghy department then opened up for Janet. She worked at Nova as a technical writer, scientific editor, and organizer of numerous international meetings on physical oceanography, and producer of huge volumes of the proceedings of these meetings, as well as the editor of Currents, the Nova Oceanography Labs news journal until her retirement in 1998. Janet traveled extensively around the world through her job and for pleasure with her friends and family members. Included with her love for travel was her great devotion to Miami Dolphins Football, IU Basketball, Ford cars, and her cats. Janet was always very generous to organizations operating for the benefit of the care and preservation of animals.

Janet is survived by her two nephews, David (Luanne) Schinbeckler of Ontario, Canada, and Dr. Tom Schinbeckler of Carmel, Indiana, and her three cousins, Barbara (Lew) Grignol of Travelers Rest, So. Carolina, Judy White of Flagstaff, Arizona, and Lewis (Liz) Ridenour of LaPorte, Indiana, and many grand nephews and nieces.

A celebration of this extraordinary persons life will be held February 23, 2008 at 12:00 noon at the Bohn Chapel at Lindenwood Cemetery, Fort Wayne, IN. Memorial donations are suggested to the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation (1-188-PKD-CURE), the Humane Society of America (1-866-693-7436) or a charity of your choice. Arrangements have been entrusted to DeMoney-Grimes Funeral Home, Columbia City, IN.