Janet L. Coates

Janet Louise Coates passed away on April 19, 2023, surrounded by family and friends. Jan was born in Grosse Pointe, MI to Bert and Augusta Kaal. She graduated from Michigan State University in 1963 with a degree in education, then headed west to Sacramento, CA where she taught school, and attended San Francisco State University. She met Charles in 1963 and married in 1967. They started a family in 1970 with the birth of identical twins, Ian and Brian. Two years later they welcomed their daughter, Kristin. With a full house of kids, Jan organized family trips that ranged from camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains to sight-seeing in England and France.

Over the last 30 years Jan and Chuck explored the world. Together they lived in a cottage in the Peak District of England where she hiked almost daily on the countryside trails. Later they resided in the vibrant city of Hong Kong. During her life, Jan had amazing experiences. She witnessed Boris Yeltsin assuming power in Moscow; saw the great migration on the Serengeti Plains; snorkeled the Great Barrier Reef; landed atop the Great Milford Glacier in New Zealand by ski-plane; and with shock watched an oncoming tsunami crash onto the shores in Bali.

She always loved returning home to Greensboro to be with friends and family, especially her grandchildren. Stuart and Molly always had a home with her, and she looked forward, every week to their big Saturday breakfasts together. In later years, she welcomed her third grandchild, Dillon, into the world. Jan and Chuck spent many summers on the California coast with him.

Jan had two important sayings that she shared with her children: “A job half done is a job not done at all,” and “at the end of life, you will realize that you can count your dearest friends on one hand.” Jan deeply loved her friends from the neighborhood, the Bridge Club, two Book Clubs, and the Symphony Guild. Her friends became an extension of her family.

Jan had a full and blessed life. She will be missed.

She is survived by her husband of 56 years, Charles (Chuck); sons, Ian of Richmond, VA, and Brian and Angel Coates of Greensboro, grandchildren, Stuart of Bend Oregon and Molly of Chapel Hill, daughter, Kristin Coates and Morgan Guenther, grandson Dillon of Telluride, CO, and sister and brother-in-law, Diane and Robert Frame of Nantucket, MA and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 29 at 11:00am at First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC. A gathering of family and friends will follow the service in the Virginia Gilmer room.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Family Services of The Piedmont, 902 Bonner St., Jamestown, NC 27282.

Online condolences may be made at www.haneslineberryfhnorthelm.com.