Janice F. Manson

Janice F. Manson, age 83, of Kerby, died October 7, 2022 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center.

Janice Faye (Goerke) Manson was born May 7, 1939 in Long Beach, California to John and Glenn Goerke. Janice and her husband Kenny owned and operated Kenny’s Auto Upholstery in Mission Viejo from 1976 until they retired in 2000 and moved to Cave Junction, Oregon.

Janice is preceded in death by her mother Glenn Rakus (1986), her father John Goerke (2003) and her loving grandparents Thomas Keller (1976) and Delphine Keller (1970).

She is survived by her husband Kenny Manson; children Gail Alloway, Jackie Eldridge, and John Manson; Mark Neely and Mike Neely; grandchildren Stephen, Jill, Jonathan, Zackery, Andrew, Lauren, Josh and Jake; six great-grandchildren; and nephews; cousins and many wonderful friends.

Janice was raised in California, with her early years and teen years spent mostly in Long Beach and much of her summers she would spend with her grandparents on the “Tank Farm,” (as the family referred to it), in the Central Valley of California. She dearly loved her grandparents and fondly talked of them often throughout the years. Janice married her first husband at the age of eighteen and had three children. Years later she met Kenny, who had two children, and they married in 1976, and went on to spend a long and very happy life together….

Memories are many and all would agree Janice never met a stranger, she knew the store clerk, the mailman, the waitress, the grocery clerks, it didn’t matter where she went, she remembered you and you remembered her. Janice also had a passion for reading, she would spend her evenings curled up with a good book. In her later years she started doing crossword puzzles and we were all amazed at all the things she knew. She was a wealth of knowledge and information.

Janice and Kenny moved to Trabuco Canyon, California where they built a beautiful home, referred to as “Manson’s Mansion” and lived there until their retirement in 2000. There are so many memories at “Manson’s Mansion”, starting with everyone was invited (well some weren’t but they still showed up) every Sunday for barbecues, horseshoes and chatting on the deck under the oak trees, all the Super Bowl parties where Kenny made him specialty sandwich, the 4th of July parades, where some years Janice along with family and friends had their own float, and anyone that knew Janice and Kenny in the canyon, remembers the famous Halloween parties. One year she dressed as a cone-head, she could hardly contain herself as she dressed for the party because she was laughing so hard.. She was hysterical and her laughter was infectious! Another memory was Janice was so excited about her move to Oregon, the trees, the animals and mostly the pinecones. It seems every pinecone that fell she wanted to collect, until the aha moment came, where she realized “oh I live here and there will always be pinecones” …. Janice loved her house on Eight Dollar Rd with the beautiful views, the quiet nights and all the memories.

Anyone that knew Janice and has a story to share, please do so in her memory book. It would be a delight to all that knew and loved her to hear your story!

A celebration of life will be held from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Saturday, March 25, 2023 at the Manson home along with a tree planting in her honor. For more information, please contact Jackie at (949)306-8791 or Gail at (949) 292-2698.