Janci Brown Rau

Janci Brown Rau was born September 21, 1948 in Greenville, Texas to happy newlyweds Betty Jean Brown (nee Wright) and Max L Brown. The family would move across the state several times adding younger sister Rene and little brother Barry along the way. In her own retelling, she was thrilled to escape the sandstorms of Odessa for the calm sophistication of Dallas.

Once graduating high school she enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin where she would pursue her degree in English and Government, with an adventure to The University of the Americas in Pueblo that was educational in more ways than one. Janci’s zest for learning and life would then take her to San Francisco where she studied Sociology and worked odd jobs while relishing in the forward thinking 1970s Bay Area milieu. She lived in a house of Hare Krishna roommates in the Berkeley Hills where she would come home to overhear sitar lessons after a long day of working as a telephone operator for Hawthorn Secrephone Answering Service (a job she said was straight out of an I Love Lucy skit).

Then, Patty Hearst was kidnapped a couple blocks away and it was time to return home to Texas.

Janci spent her life deeply committed to all children, but particularly those in need of extra love or attention. She began her career as a Child Welfare Worker in the Texas Department of Human Services where she would investigate cases of reported neglect in rural Texas and advocate for children placed under court jurisdiction. She would go on to support emotionally troubled and children with disabilities at the Children’s Psychiatric Hospital in Austin.

Her other life long career of real estate brought her to Glenn Rau, as she sold him a condo during the first Austin tech boom in the mid 1980s. While they met later in life, their relationship quickly solidified into a marriage of unwavering support and unconditional love. They moved to Des Moines, IA where they welcomed their baby girl Anna Leigh, who became the center of her world and focus of her devotion.

In Iowa, Janci continued her work to create a better life for those in need through casework review service on the State Foster Care Review Board, lobbying leadership of the Iowa State Public Affairs Committee of the Junior League, and several local initiatives to ready homes and build community for Bosnian refugees fleeing civil war.

She would again move home to Austin in the mid 90s to be closer to her mother in her later years and enjoy all of the hometown luxuries only central Texas can offer. She swam every day at Deep Eddy, could often be found enjoying a queso catfish at Shady Grove, and loved a weekend drive to Fredericksburg through the Hill Country.

Janci leaves a legacy of compassion and idealism in its highest form, insistent that kindness and commitment to the truth can build the better world we all deserve. She is survived by her husband Glenn Rau, daughter Anna Leigh Rau, son in law Corbett Jones, sister Rene Brown; and brother Barry Brown.

Graveside services will be held Saturday, October 5th at 10AM at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery through the stewardship of Weed Corley Fish with a celebration of life at the family home after.