Nema Janeway

Nema Janeway was born on May 10, 1922 in Bower, Oklahoma to parents Willie Lee Janeway and Melvina Janeway (Dehart). She passed away on August 23, 2024 at 102 years of age. In her youth, Nema attended Stigler High School, where she graduated in 1940. After high school, she moved to Muskogee and attended cosmetology school. She joined the Woman’s Army Corp during WWII as a medical nurse assistant. After returning home, she went to Business school and took a position in Tulsa with Civil Service. Between the years of 1951 to 1953, she transferred to French Moracco, Algeria and Istanbul, Turkey. Upon returning to Tulsa, she then took another opportunity to work at the Pentagon in Washington D.C, and she went on to take a position with the Under Secretary of the Department of Commerce, Washington D.C., where she stayed until her retirement in 1973-74. She experienced many milestones during her service in Washington D.C., including the JFK assassination and funeral in 1963, May Day Protests against the Vietnam War in 1971. After retirement, she volunteered at Gatesway Foundation in Broken Arrow and was honored with Beta Sigma Phi’s Woman of the Year in 1980, devoting over 14,000 hours in their Thrift Shop. Nema continued traveling after retirement and visited the Holy Land in the Middle East three times. She was was active in her church, New Home Free Will Baptist Church in Coweta, where she taught Sunday school for over 25 years and Vacation Bible School for many years as well. Nema treasured her family and was very proud of her nieces, nephew, great nieces and nephews, great-great nieces and nephews, and great-great-great nieces and nephews. She will be dearly missed by those who were blessed to have her as a part of their lives. She is survived by her nieces: Cheryl Jane Reehling, Nema Helen Dobbins, Patricia O’Brien, Alicia Atherton, and Elizabeth Brown; nephew David Janeway; and numerous great, great-great, and great-great-great nieces and nephews. She is proceeded in death by her parents Willie and Melvina Janeway; brother, Eugene Janeway; and sister, Lena (Janeway) Reehling. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Clarehouse in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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Nema Janeway

May 10, 1922 - August 23, 2024