Janet Younger Dill died surrounded by her family on July 7, 2016 at M. D. Anderson Hospital in Houston at the age of 72 after a courageous, two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
A memorial service will be held at Porter Funeral Home in Louisville, MS, at 2 p.m. on Monday, July 11. The family will receive friends immediately after the memorial service at the funeral home. A Praise Service honoring Janet's life will be held at Calvary Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa on Tuesday, July 12 at 2 p.m. with visitation of friends immediately following at the church.
Janet was born on September 30, 1943, in Columbus, MS. She graduated from Louisville High School in Louisville, MS in 1961. She attended and received her undergraduate degree in speech and drama from Mississippi State College for Women followed by her Masters Degree from The University of Alabama. After completing her formal education, Janet was employed in the Anniston, AL public school system and subsequently at Stillman College in Tuscaloosa, where she taught speech and drama. Soon after she was employed in sales with Comcast in Tuscaloosa. For the past 18 years she's served as vice-president of North River Trading Company, a family-owned business selling high-end cabinet doors to the manufactured housing industry.
Janet had a special passion for working with and serving special needs children and adults. She was an active supporter of The ARC of Tuscaloosa where she established and served several years as chairperson of their annual celebrity, fund-raiser golf tournament. She was also a member of the Junior League of Tuscaloosa where she was voted "Sustainer of the Year" for her tireless efforts. She was a member of the Jack Warner Foundation Board. She was active in numerous other social and philanthropic efforts in the Tuscaloosa community.
Janet was an active member of Calvary Baptist Church. She was bold in her Christian faith and relied on that faith and God's grace to help her face the challenges of her illness.
She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Jimmy, and by her son, James-Paul Dill (Lynsey) of Tuscaloosa, and granddaughters, Annalee and Kate Dill; sisters, Mary Virginia Clark (Buddy) and Nancy Ward (Ronny), all of Camden, SC. She was preceded in death by her parents, Zubie and Archie Younger and her brother, Paul Younger, and a very "special" uncle, Johnny Wofford Hightower, all of Louisville, MS.
Serving as active pall bearers will be Dr. William Barton, Larry Pope, Eric Ward, Otis Johnson, Phillip LaMareaux, Dr. Paul Allen, Steve Younger and Jordan Baird. Honorary pall bearers are Dr. Charles LeMaistre, C. M. Newton, Don Stein and Bob Patterson.
The family requests anyone wishing to remember Janet consider a memorial gift to The Arc of Tuscaloosa or The Marit Peterson Fund, c/o M D Anderson Hospital, 1515 Holcombe Blvd., Houston, TX 77030. To sign the guestbook, please go to www.porterfuneralhome.net.
