Janet Marie Dye

Janet Marie Dye

 September 18, 1941 - August 23, 2025 

Janet Marie Dye, age 83, of Mutual, passed away on Saturday, August 23, 2025, at home on the family farm, where her father and preceding members of her family lived for several generations. Janet was born on September 18, 1941 in Columbus, Ohio to Roger Madden Gove and Eleaner Jane Gove. She was a 1959 graduate of West High in Columbus, then attended the Ohio State University, eventually receiving her Bachelor of Behavioral Science degree from Cedarville University. Janet married David C. Dye in 1962. She proceeded to live a busy and full life, raising their six children in Columbus before moving to the family farm in 1978. This was not just any move; it involved extensive renovation and restoration of the old farmhouse, which had been uninhabited for many years. Janet was up to the challenge. She loved old things and was an inveterate auction-goer and garage-saler since making her first purchase of an antique at the age of 16 (it was a washstand, for those curious). After her children were grown, Janet’s interest in buying and selling antiques led to opening a store, the Town Hall Emporium in Mutual, where she sold antiques for nearly 25 years. Janet had the ability to make any room functional, comfortable, and beautiful, and everyone in her family has enjoyed the fruits of her decorating and bargain-hunting labors, as she turned her attention to acquiring furniture for her children when each one set up housekeeping. Next, she helped her grandchildren, and no doubt she would have been ready to help her many great-grandchildren when the time came.

Janet’s creativity wasn’t limited to keeping a home. She had an enormous capacity for observation and a clever way with words. She translated what she noticed and considered into plots for books and scripts for plays, but most of all, into poetry. Her ability to try to make sense of the world she saw (and the world she didn’t) found expression in her poems. A few years ago, in honor of reaching eighty years of age, her husband, with the help of his family, compiled and published a book of her poetry. Her words have now touched hundreds of readers, who have found meaning and solace and humor in Janet’s gift of capturing what it means to be human in a fallen world. Her poems on faith, nature, marriage, parenting – all the rhythms of life – will continue to connect readers to Janet’s life and mind for generations to come.

In addition to her creative endeavors, Janet lived an active church and civic life, contributing to her community and the world beyond through support for local organizations such as Champaign County Preservation Alliance (CCPA), Sycamore House, and various Christian organizations and missionaries. She was a longtime board member of the CCPA, and was notorious for her fearlessness in knocking on the door of any house with a decorated front porch and well-tended flower bed, knowing the homeowner would be a likely candidate for the annual home and garden fundraiser tour. Janet’s most marked characteristic, beyond even her love for her husband and family, was her love for God. She felt the call of God even as a very young girl, and pursued knowing Him and following Christ from the time she was a teenager. Faith in Christ gave shape to her entire life, laying the foundation for her marriage and for her mothering. The heritage of faith she passed on to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will continue to resound until Christ returns or calls her children home. Janet was a member of First Baptist Church in Urbana, as well as a previous member of Memorial Baptist in Columbus. She also enjoyed many friendships and connections with fellow believers from Mechanicsburg Baptist Church and Grace Baptist Church of Urbana.

Janet was preceded in death by her parents, brother Jon Gove, and sister Joann Webb. She is survived by her husband David, sister Judith Gove of Grove City, OH, daughters Jennifer (Kenneth) Miller, Rebecca (Ronald) Heron, Stephen (Rebecca) Dye, Amanda (Scott) Blanton, Sarah (Paul) Kelly, and Daniel (Yasmin) Dye. She loved and was loved by her 24 grandchildren: Andrew (Elizabeth) Miller, Carrie (Andrew) Beitzel, Thomas (Emma) Miller, Emilie (Kendall) Yoder; Benjamin (Rachel) Heron, Anna-Marie (Renaud) Gagne, Katherine (Joshua) Meier, Nathaniel (Renee) Heron, William (Emma) Heron, John-David Heron; Ashley (Nate) Duehring, David (Rachel) Dye, Isaac (Sadie) Dye, Abigail (Paul) LaBarbara, Zachariah Dye; Eleanor (Josh) Zimmerman, Margaret, Jon Luke Blanton, and Samuel Blanton; Phineas, Zane, and Frances Kelly; Eliza and Nathalie Dye, as well as her 23 (and counting) great-grandchildren: Silas, Nora, Isaac, and Frederick Miller; Lewis, Simon, and Julia Beitzel, Eloise Miller, Theodore Yoder; Gabriel and Lemuel Heron; Evelynne, Theodore, Madeleine, and Eliane Gagne; Lillianne and Wesley Meier; Annalise and Evangeline Heron; Henry, William, and Ada Duehring; Luca Dye, with three more babies expected to join the family in the coming months. Janet is also survived by her beloved nephews Jon and Bryan Gove and Kevin Webb, as well as many beloved members of her husband’s family: sisters-in-law Marilyn (Ron) Shanks and Karen (Dale) Rogers, and brother-in-law James (Clara) Dye, and their children: her dear nieces and nephews. Janet will be remembered with gratitude and love for the joy she brought to her extensive family and many friends. 

The Closing

 Don’t let the wrinkles fool you,

 Don’t let the white hair define what you see. 

Under the cloak of aging Is the gift of eternity, 

Nearer now the curtain closes,

Closer now the end in sight;

Further now the timeline shortened, 

One breath expelled and there will be light. 

Don’t weep for the aged ones 

Fading now like sunset rays – 

They’re following the Book’s sage instructions, 

As they learn to number their days.

- Janet M. Dye 

Friends may call on Thursday, August 28th from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm and on Friday, August 29th from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the First Baptist Church, 401 N. Main Street, Urbana. The funeral will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, August 30th, 2025, with visitation from 10:30 am to 11:00 am. Interment to follow at Fair View Cemetery in Mutual. Condolences may be expressed to the family at www.walterfunerals.com.