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FIELD, JANET CHERYL
FIELD, JANET CHERYL, of Chelsea village, died peacefully on January 1. Jan was born in Wisconsin on June 25, 1945, the third of four children of Marlyn and Viola Buchholz. Following her graduation from high school in Weyauwega, Wis., Jan worked several years in Milwaukee before volunteering for the Peace Corps in 1966. She was the first volunteer to enter the Truk District of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. In Truk, she met William Field, a recent law school graduate from out East, and they were married on May 5, 1968. After the Peace Corps, Jan and Bill lived in central Massachusetts for four years before moving to Chelsea in 1972. In February of 1972, they adopted a 3-year-old son named William B. "B" , and in October of that same year, Jan gave birth to son Addison, followed by daughter Carrianna "Carrie" in 1975. While raising her children, Jan worked in her husband's law office in Chelsea. Later, Jan worked for the Institute for Sustainable Communities, supporting environmental programs in Eastern Europe, and in a student services office at Norwich University. In Chelsea, she served at times as a member of the school board, justice of the peace, Sunday school teacher, youth group leader, Cub Scout leader, Chelsea Parks Commission, and on the Executive Committee of the United Church of Chelsea. She also served as a trustee of Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, N.H. She was parent representative to VT Child and Adolescent Service System Program. Jan fulfilled a lifelong ambition by graduating from Mount Holyoke College in 1997. At Mount Holyoke, she was a classmate of her daughter Carrie, and after a spirited competition to see who would have the highest grade point average, she just edged out Carrie, graduating magna cum laude. College degree in hand, she first worked in student services at Franklin Pierce College in Lebanon, N.H.; then as statewide mentor coordinator for Central VT Community Action, providing support for persons doing business start-ups. She subsequently worked with youth through New Directions for Barre. In 2005 she joined the Peace Corps Crisis Corps. This became the first Peace Corps program implemented within the U. S. during the national response to Hurricane Katrina. While in Mississippi with the Crisis Corps, she connected with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and subsequently responded with FEMA to natural disasters around the country. Jan was with FEMA in West Virginia in April 2012 when she was found to have a lung tumor. This was the fourth cancer she battled during her life; although she felt she was in control fighting the other cancers, this time she knew was different. She leaves behind Bill, her best friend and husband of 44 years; her son Addison, of Juneau, Alaska; her daughter, Carrie, and husband, Matthew Wax-Krell, of West Hartford, Conn.; and three grandchildren. She also leaves behind her brother, Nathan and wife Mary Buchholz, of Rock Hill, S.C.; her sister, Joan and husband Ron Engels, of Pelican Lake, Wis.; her sister Shirley and husband Steve Sternberg, of New London, Wis.; the companion of her mother, Fritz Douglas, of Weyauwega, Wis.; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her parents, by her son William on Dec. 25, 2012, by a brother-in-law, Jerry Lehman, and many other close and enduring friends.
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