Janice Rosemary Shupe Dunn

― Paul Simon

Janice Shupe Dunn, 81 of Knoxville, Tennessee passed away on Thursday, September 7, 2023. She was born in Wytheville, Virginia on March 14, 1942 to the late Thomas and Myrtle Shupe.

In 1950, the small Appalachian town of Wytheville, VA was later dubbed “the summer without children” as over 175 children were afflicted with childhood onset of polio including Janice who lost the use of her arm. Undeterred, Janice went on to care for her horse Lady, and later played trumpet for her high school marching band. Resiliency was planted in Janice early where she confronted obstacles and tragedy with tenacity and an intractable spirit of survival.

Janice met the love of her life Harry Dunn, a geologist from Missouri, who instilled her with confidence including teaching her to drive. Their marriage was bright with a shared love for music, visiting their families with their dog Tramp and were active at Beaver Ridge Methodist Church, where she worked as a secretary. Janice and Harry would extend their family to include their daughters through adoption from Korea in 1977 and in 1984 from the Philippines.

Janice experienced the anguish of losing her best friend and husband Harry who preceded her in death, at age 42 from complications of juvenile diabetes on December 20, 1984. She continued to raise her young daughters in Knoxville, Tennessee with frequent visits to family in Missouri and Virginia.

Janice Dunn is survived by daughters Joi Dunn and Hope Dunn, cherished granddaughter Marissa Panzera of Tennessee; brother Richard Shupe of Dublin, VA; preceded by sister-in law Thelma Walters Shupe and niece Sherry Clark; survived by nieces Pam Mathena, Teresa Hash, and Donna Jaccard, whom the family expresses special thanks as she and her husband Jeff Jaccard cared for Janice in her last years; several great nieces and nephews as well as her husband’s family in Missouri, where she is preceded in death by her parent in-laws Emma Jane and Edward Joseph Dunn and survived by her late husband’s brothers and sisters and their descendants.

A private family gathering will take place where Janice will be interred at Hill Cemetery in Missouri where her beloved husband Harry rests.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation JDRF