Janet Marie (Pauwels) McCully

Janet was born June 24, 1943, in Jackson, Mich., to Alberic and Mary Helen Pauwels, the third of three children. She attended St. John high school in Jackson, and then received a Bachelor’s Degree from Central Michigan University and a Master’s from Michigan State University. A first-generation American on her father’s side, she was proud of her Belgian heritage and of the harrowing journey he and his family made to America after being displaced by World War I.

Born into a devout Catholic family, Janet was deeply spiritual, praying the rosary daily for much of her life and instilling her trust in the Holy Spirit in her children and grandchildren.

Janet taught school for several years, teaching 2nd grade and kindergarten at McCulloch School and 2nd grade at Bennett Elementary School in Jackson, Mich. She married and had two children in Lansing, Mich., before moving with her family to Dunwoody, Ga., in 1978, where she had her third child, co-managed the family business, and later sold computer supplies and office products. Happy with the Georgia climate but cognizant of her roots, she would make annual summer trips to Michigan with her children for more than 20 years.

Janet had a small frame but a larger-than-life personality. She was fiercely independent and would readily share her opinion. She filled her house with antique clocks, figurines, colored glass pieces, candy dishes and the mouth-watering scent of her famous chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. No holiday passed without Janet decorating every inch of her house and honoring fun traditions that her adult children continue to this day, such as wearing loud Christmas sweaters and grilling Jack-O-Burgers on Halloween. She enjoyed wearing colorful jewelry, wearing hats to Sunday mass and driving her Cadillac Fleetwood. She kept a robust social calendar, often boating with her husband at Lake Lanier or serving up cocktails and her irresistible corn dip to friends and neighbors.

But there was nothing Janet loved more than her three children. She delighted in their accomplishments big and small, and submitted regular updates about them to her Village Mill neighborhood newsletter. When health issues in recent years kept her at home, she gravitated to her den where the walls were adorned with rows of framed 8x10’s of each of her kids’ annual school pictures from K-12.

Janet was preceded in death by her husband Richard McCully, and is survived by her brother Robert Pauwels (Connie), sister Mary Lynn Smith, three children, Chris Carr (Joan), Sarah Carr Evans (David) and Toby Carr (Kellen), seven grandchildren, Mary Clifton Carr, Harrison Evans, Palmer Evans, Evie Carr, Leland Carr, Cecilia Carr, Mary Grace Carr, a step-daughter Colleen Stephens (Chris) and her two sons, and seven nieces and nephews and their families.

The family also wants to acknowledge the wonderful caregivers who assisted Janet recently: Amiko Walker, Dorothy Atuenyi, and Marlene Jamieson.

Visitation will be held at All Saints Catholic Church in Dunwoody from 9:30-10:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 14th with a funeral mass to follow at 11 a.m. Janet will be buried next to her husband in a private ceremony at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, Ga.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Marist School Annual Fund for Tuition Assistance in Brookhaven or St. Vincent de Paul Georgia.