Barbara Janette “Janet” Welty

August 05, 2021

Janet Welty, 91, died on August 5th at the Hospice and Community Care Inpatient Center in Mount Joy, PA.

The only child of Theodore and Chrystabel Adams she was born in Paterson, NJ where she enjoyed a free range childhood of biking, swimming, and exploring. She earned a B.A. in Economics at Tusculum College in Tennessee where she also received a Certificate in Vocal Music Performance. Her lovely soprano voice brought much delight to congregants sitting near her in the pews at the First Presbyterian Church of Lancaster where she was a member for over fifty years. She was known at church as “the hat lady” as she was one of few who continued the 1940s/1950s style of hat wearing to church into the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.

A homemaker while her children were growing up, she enjoyed interior decorating, flower arranging, bargain hunting at garage sales, swimming, and gardening. She served the Lancaster community as a Girl Scout leader, a Gray Lady LGH Volunteer, and a church deacon. She was a Republican Committee-woman for over 25 years and a longtime member of the Lancaster Men’s Garden Club where she especially enjoyed their annual corn roast picnic. In her many years of service as docent for The Conestoga House, she found joy in two of her main passions: old homes and plants and gardens.

Of course, her greatest architectural love was her old (built ca.1840) home on the New Holland Pike, in the Village of Eden. She spent over 50 years decorating and enjoying this house and its gardens. The proud owner of a Cadillac or two she also drove a huge old boat of a station wagon that served as her “garage sale” collection vehicle. A determined and dedicated bargain hunter all her life, even in more recent years, she would still giggle with delight at bargains found at local thrift shops. Her many pets through the years occupied a special place in her heart, especially one loyal and loving Labrador Retriever named Ben, and Magnum, P.I., her Standard Poodle.

Political discussions of the day were important to her as was her civic responsibility to vote. She rarely missed voting in any election. Decked out in a red, white and blue sequined vest and hat, sporting several campaign buttons from the past, she had great fun in displaying all of her elephant memorabilia as she sat outside the polls with fellow republicans while catching up with all the folks in the neighborhood as they would come through to vote.

Through the years she enjoyed vacations in Maine, Stone Harbor, California, Barbados, and Italy. In her later years she enjoyed travelling to her mother’s home in a sleepy town in southern Virginia where she would sit on the front porch glider rocking with friends and relatives, engaging in the more relaxed southern style of neighborly chatting. Always an avid sports fan, in her later years, she continued to support, watch and listen to as many Eagles, Penn State, and Phillies games as she could. A giver of multitudes of gifts to friends and family, she particularly adored Santa Claus and enjoyed having her photo taken with him throughout the years.

Mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, there is a hole in the hearts of those family members who now survive her: three children, daughters, Kay Welty and Susan Baker (Patrick), and son, Stanley “Hap” R. Welty III (Carmen); two grandchildren, Cristina (David) and Troy (Meghan); and four great-grandchildren (Hannah, Olivia, Kerraghen, & Deacon).

Her family extends much gratitude to the Home and Inpatient Staff of Hospice and Community Care for their most dedicated caring attention to our mother in the final days of life.

WELTY MEMORIAL SERVICE UPDATE: Family and friends will be received from 10AM to 11AM, Friday, April 23, 2022 at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 10 Delp Rd., Lancaster, PA 17601. The Memorial Service will follow at the church at 11AM.