Janice went to join her parents in Heaven on Dec. 17. She was born Emmie Janice Moore to Homer and Flossie Moore of Anacoco, La. After her mother died her father married Murrel Yeates, who became a beloved second mother to Janice and her siblings, and who held the family together for many years.
Janice was valedictorian of her graduating class at Marion High School, and then attended McNeese State College, both in Louisiana. After college and early motherhood, Janice worked in a medical research lab at Baylor College of Medicine. There Janice found her calling as a saleswoman to the filtration and life sciences industries, at a time when women were a rarity in that world. Janice would recount going to factories which had no women’s restrooms on the production floor, because the only women employees worked in the front office. She had a long and very successful career, and regularly was the top salesperson for the companies she was with.
Although Janice’s early marriage to David Little didn’t last, it gave her three wonderful daughters who survive her: Denise Thatcher (Greg), Tara Jones (Mike), and Dana Savage (Michael). At Baylor Janice met Bruce Pettitt, Jr. who was the love of her life. Their son Bruce Pettit, III also survives her. Her husband Bruce succumbed to cancer in 1992. Her four children gave her twelve grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren.
In 1997 Janice was surprised and overjoyed to find a second love of her life: her husband Bob Luton, who survives her. Janice is also survived by her sisters Glenda Crochet (Sam), Betty Rae Littleton (Murry), and Gayle Brandt (Cliff), and her brother Don Moore.
Sometimes stubborn and impetuous, Janice is now in the arms of Jesus. Rest In Peace.
A family gathering will be held at Hixson Moss Bluff on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023, at 10 a.m.
She is interred next to her mother in Old Ritchie Cemetery in Moss Bluff.