Janice Colcord

Janice Ann Colcord, age 59 years of Niles, Michigan; wife, mother, grandmother, sister; puzzle solver, fisherwoman, and shopper died peacefully at 3:50 a.m. on Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023 surrounded by her family at her home following an extended illness.

She was born on June 2, 1963 in Watervliet, Michigan to James O. and Mary S. (Cheetham) Griffin and attended the Decatur, Michigan schools.  She was first employed as a healthcare aide in area facilities including West Woods of Niles, and then for many years worked at Niles Community Schools in building services.  She has lived in Niles since 1982.

Janice was a devout Christian with a great appreciation for contemporary Christian music.  She enjoyed completing puzzles, especially the word search challenges, and liked to fish, usually at Diamond Lake. Some of her greatest interests were planting flowers every year and shopping both online and at garage sales, but her true greatest love was her family, especially her children and grandchildren to whom she was “Memaw” or “Mawmaw”.  They are where she drew her strength and willingness to continue on when she needed that the most.

On July 9, 1983 at the First Baptist Church of Niles she married David Allan Colcord with whom she was planning for the coming of this July and the remarkable 40th Anniversary of their wedding.

Surviving family includes her husband, David Colcord and their children, Justin (& Stephanie) Colcord of South Bend, Indiana and Arielle (& Nate) Heiermann and Sarah (& Aaron Tavernier) Colcord, both of Niles; grandchildren Emily (& Cameron Rice) Schools, Layla Colcord, Braidyn “B” Tavernier, and Alayna “Grace” Tavernier; and Janice’s siblings, Mary Ann (& Jim) Jaynes, and Jim Griffin, both of Niles; David (& Pam) Griffin of Cedarville, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and Kenny Griffin of Adrian, Michigan; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents and by Janice’s sisters, Beverly Krebs and Jeannie Hamilton.

The funeral service for Janice Colcord will be at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, April 14, 2023 at the Halbritter-Wickens Funeral Home, 615 East Main Street in Niles, with Pastor John M. Colegrove of the Liberty Church of Charlotte, Michigan officiating.  Friends and family will gather on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. at the funeral home for a procession to her grave in Silverbrook Cemetery in Niles for a Committal at 10:00 a.m. with Pastor Matthew Bair of the Bethel Tabernacle of Niles officiating.  The ceremony will be available online on the Halbritter-Wickens Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/halbritterwickensfuneralservices/ .  In honor of Janice’s pleasure in purple, please consider wearing purple attire to these events.

The family will receive relatives and friends on Thursday, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.  Online memories may be left at:

www.halbritterwickens.com

Contributions in memory of Janice may be made to the Frankel Cardiovascular Center, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, https://leadersandbest.umich.edu/find/#!/mimed/cvc ; or to the Rogel Cancer Center, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, https://leadersandbest.umich.edu/find/#!/mimed/ccc .

Janice loved life and fought for every day beyond those predicted by the best of healthcare, and her love of life was about those around her, as a healthcaregiver herself, and then the years in the halls of the schools, caring for the students and teachers.  But her greatest love was for her family: her children, grandchildren, siblings, and David; all fulfilling our command to love God and love people.