A few words about my mother...

I thought I would devote this space to a few words about my mother.

Janice Manley Weyl died, February 9, 2012, at the age of 95. She had been declining over the past several years and finally passed away in a peaceful sleep.

Louise Janice Mandelberg was born, July 30, 1916, in Chicago, Illinois. She was the youngest daughter of Sidney A. and Evelyn Franck Mandelberg. They changed their name to Manley because having a German sounding name, in the early part of the Twentieth Century, was not such a good thing, especially if you were Jewish.

Janice had an older sister named Jean. Because Jean came first, when Janice was born, Jean referred to the new baby as "Sister" which was the name Janice was always known by in the family.

Since Evelyn had named the first baby, Sidney got to name the second and gave the baby one of his favorite names, Louise. It turned out that he was the only one who liked it so when the baby wasn't called "Sister", she was called Janice.

When Janice was born, Evelyn asked her mother, Pauline Flexner Franck, to send her maid, Mary Miller, from New York City, to help with the new baby.

Mary was from Munich and spoke English with a heavy German accent. She was almost 5 feel tall and waddled when she walked. She was a devout Catholic.

Mary never went back to New York but, instead, stayed with the family and helped raise Janice and Jean. Janice always said that Mary was more of a mother to her then Evelyn. Janice and Mary were devoted to one another as were Jean and Janice.

After a short time in St. Louis, Janice spent the first few years of her life growing up in Omaha, Nebraska. Then, when she was about 12, the family moved to New York City. They lived at 183 West 86th Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus.

Janice graduated from Julia Richmond High School and took some secretarial courses.

Her cousin, Richard Weil, introduced her to his old camp pal, Max Weyl of Washington, D.C. The couple were married on May 28th, 1936 in a ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria apartment of her aunt and uncle, Herbert and Nellie (Franck) Salomon. They honeymooned in, the then toney, Atlantic City.

The newlyweds settled in an apartment at 504 West 104th Street in Manhattan and Janice took a job at B. Altman.

They then moved to a few different locations, including Rego Park, and finally to Woodmere, in "The Five Towns", on Long Island.

Janice gave birth, in 1942, to a daughter, Karen, who, tragically, died of kidney disease in 1949.

Kevin was born in 1951. He was named for Kevin DeLacey Burke, the Christian Science Practitioner who had been so helpful to Janice and Max during Karen's illness and subsequent death.

In 1957, Max was transferred to Connecticut and the family moved to Hamden, a suburb of New Haven. Janice spent the next year looking for a house to buy and finally, after looking at many properties, bought a ranch house in Madison in August of 1958.

Janice decided to go to college in 1967 motivated, in part, by her desire to learn French so she could converse with Kevin when he returned from a year abroad.

She went on, one course a semester, to earn a Bachelor's, and then a Master's degree, in English. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Southern Connecticut State University.

During her student period, Janice studied French at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Cote d'Azur and at La Sorbonne where she spent several months absorbing the French language and culture. She was always very proud of her French ancestry. Her maternal great-grandparents had been Parisian.

She was also very proud of her relation to Adolph Ochs, the founder of The New York Times, who was a distant cousin on her mother's side.

She spent a year in Dublin studying Joyce's Ulysses at Trinity College and, in her eighties, travelled to the Magdalen Islands, in the North Atlantic, where she helicoptered to an ice floe and crawled out on the snow to witness the birth of baby seals.

Janice was a published poet and author with her writings appearing in The Belletrist Review among other publications.

She was an avid reader (Proust was one of her favorites) and valued her many books more than almost any other possession.

And Janice was a lover of all animals. She would leave food outside for the raccoons and squirrels and loved her Dachsunds and cats. She would contribute what little she could to the various animal protective organizations that sent her appeals.

Janice had a wonderful sense of humor and a wonderful laugh. When she thought something was very funny she would inhale, open her mouth wide and, after a palpable pause of many seconds, let go with howls of laughter. She told many very funny stories and enjoyed the tales of her friends and family in return.

And Janice was possessive of a powerful sense of determination. If she set her mind to something she would not rest until it was accomplished and only then when it was perfect and exactly what she had wanted.

Janice was a complete and total lady. She knew what fork went where and what hat to wear under what circumstance. And she was a true believer in "Thank You" notes.

But she was not pretentious. Her elegance and style were natural. She could also enjoy the commonplace though and, for example, although not a drinker, would have a shot of whiskey...in a shot glass...from time to time instead of a fancy cocktail. And, even though she spoke in a genteel and ladylike manner she could swear like a longshoreman if she wanted to.

She was always well, and appropriately, dressed and her makeup was always flattering, even though it would take hours in the bathroom to apply. And she was usually late to leave for an appointment. "Those God damned 10 minutes" as Max would say.

But more than anything Janice was a chocoholic. If it had chocolate in it she would eat it. But she only loved pure, unadulterated, chocolate. No nuts or jellies. Just thick, sweet, milk chocolate. And especially Chocolate Icebox Cake made from Mary Miller's recipe. Chocolate was her one true vice. And she loved caviar too even though she could never really afford to buy it.

Janice Manley Weyl lived a long life. She always regretted not having been a professional dancer or actress and always carried a girlhood crush on a young boy named Ricky Weil.

But she knew great joy such as her Master's degree, her son's occasional successes and his marriage to Mia and the birth of her grandaughter, Maraina.

She had a special place in her big heart for her nieces Laurie and Margie and her nephew Billy and their mother, her older sister, Jean. And for her best friends Alberta and Addie. Aside from her husband, children and grandaughter, they were the most important people in Janice's life.

She also knew crushing sorrow as in her successful battle with breast cancer, Max's death and the death of her six year old daughter.

But, in the end, Janice Weyl lived a full life. She had few good friends but that was because she preferred it that way. She liked to be alone.

But the friends she did have loved her as much as she was devoted to them. She hated, almost more than anything, when people would drop in, unannounced, but when they came at her invitation they were treated like royalty and were the center of her attention.

It would take a very long time to recount all of the experiences and impressions of Janice's life. These are but a few.

Louise Janice Mandelberg. Janice. "Sister." Mrs. Max Weyl. Janice M. Weyl. Mom. Grandma. Aunt Janice.

She was an inspiration and by any name, left her mark and will not soon be forgotten.



Author's Note:

If you have any stories about Janice I would love to hear them, good or bad.