Janet Ruth Freeman

Janet Ruth Freeman, 91, of Lerna, IL, passed away at 7:15 am on August 15, 2023, at Sarah Buch Lincoln Health Center in Mattoon.

Graveside Services will be at 2:00 pm on Saturday August 19, 2023, in the Janesville Cemetery. Family and friends are welcome to gather after 1:00 pm at the cemetery.  The Barkley Funeral Chapel is assisting the family with arrangements.

Janet was born on February 16, 1932, in Dayton, Ohio, to Rev. Leo B. and Beulah (Ozee) Venatta. She married Robert E. Freeman on February 14, 1981, and he preceded her in 2012. Survivors include stepsons, Robert Jeffrey Freeman, and Donald Lawrence Freeman; step granddaughter Misty Schroeder; step great grandsons Harrison and Hudson Schroeder; nieces, Brenda (Ernest) Decker and Cynthia (Rick) Marrs; and nephews, William J. (Cheryl) Venatta and John Douglas (Jane) Venatta; numerous great nieces and nephews and great-great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband and one brother Jay Dalton Venatta.

After graduating high school, Janet went on to earn both a Bachelor of Science and a master’s degree in education from Eastern Illinois University in 1953 and in 1956. She was an Elementary School Teacher in Danville, Illinois from March of 1953 to May of 1955, and in Toledo, Illinois from 1955 to 1956. Janet worked as an Assistant Professor of Education at Ball State University from 1956 to 1970, while she studied to earn her Doctor of Education Degree (EdD) from Indiana University in 1968. She then became a Professor of Education at the University of Southern Indiana and taught from 1970 to 1992 before retiring to rural Lerna in 1992.

Janet was a member of the Johnstown United Methodist Church until it closed, and the Lerna United Methodist Church.

Online condolences can be expressed at www.barkleyfuneralchapels.com

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