Janet Marie Puryear

Janet Marie Puryear, 94, passed from this life on October 31, 2023. She was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma to Aldrich M. and Clara L. (Mort) Felsman on February 27, 1929. The family moved to East Texas about 1930.

Janet graduated from New London high school in 1946. She then attended Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio and Kilgore Junior College and was a member of the Rangerettes. She graduated from the University of Texas in 1950 where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. Janet was also a member of The Daughters of the American Revolution.

In 1950 she married Jack Martin Puryear and followed him in his Navy assignments during the Korean Conflict. They then settled in Austin to raise their four children.

Janet was a devoted Catholic and together with her husband Jack they were early and lifelong supporters of Saint Theresa’s Catholic Church. They were founding members of the Saint Monica’s Holy Guild, born out of friendship and the pursuit of Christian values.

Janet and her husband were given Papal Appointments to The Equestrian Order of The Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, the highest honor granted to clergy and laity by the Holy See. The Puryears have also received the Silver Leaf of Jerusalem award from the Holy See and the Pilgrim Shell.

She will always be remembered for her love of golf and her skill as a bridge player. Janet was a devoted mother and grandmother and loved all her extended family and friends. Birthdays and holidays were always special events and reasons to celebrate.

She is survived by sons, Jack, Jr. and wife Monica, James Puryear, John Puryear and wife Ulrike, daughter, Jo Ann Taylor and husband Alan; seven grandchildren, Marie, Elisabeth, Matthew, Patrick, Jordan and Oliver Puryear, and Morgan Taylor, and seven great-grandchildren.

Funeral mass will be held at Saint Theresa Catholic Church on Friday, November 10, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. followed by burial at the Texas State Cemetery at 12:00 p.m.

The family requests that remembrance gifts be made to Dell Children’s Blood and Cancer Center, Hospice Austin, or a charity of your choice.