Juliet Rosalie Janes

Juliet Rosalie (née Campbell) Janes was born in 1933 in Addo, South Africa, and grew up in Cape Town where from ages five to eighteen she spent every birthday at Springfield Convent. While in London to see the Queen’s coronation, she met a young geologist, Dick Janes, who was on his way to Canada. He later wrote to her from Labrador, and she replied by travelling to Gander where they were married—three days late thanks to a March snowfall that delayed the Newfie Bullet. Thus began Juliet’s adventurous life in Canada. 

Over the next five years, Juliet and Dick welcomed four children. She had a lead-zinc baby in Kimberly, BC, where, while very pregnant, she climbed a tree to escape a mother moose. Two uranium babies followed in Blind River, Ontario, where it took an axe to open the ice on wash day. This meant she was ready for the Arctic Circle, so it was off to Port Radium on Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories, arriving in mid-winter when the sun never rose above the horizon. Pregnant again, Juliet had an Edmonton baby before travelling to Asbestos, Quebec. 

West Vancouver came next, and there Juliet set down roots. She joined the Unitarian Congregation and, with the kids in school, used her secretarial training from Cape Town to start working. Summers were spent camping throughout the BC interior and Hornby Island, and winters were devoted to family skiing. Further moves to Calgary, Saskatoon, and Oakville followed, and in each new place Juliet sought out the vibrant atmosphere of educational institutions for employment. 

In 1982, a move to Anchorage, Alaska, brought real change: no children at home and no green card. When asked what she would do, Juliet replied, “Sit in the dark.” Not true! In her one year in Anchorage, she began weight training, ran her first marathon, entered and won ski races, hiked mountains, learned to bike and Telemark ski, and was an active volunteer, especially when the Nordic World Cup came to town. 

When Dick and Juliet returned to West Vancouver, she was ready for the familiar beauty of the West Coast and a “no more moves” career with the federal civil service. She joined Citizenship Canada, working with community hosts to organize citizenship ceremonies across British Columbia. Welcoming new Canadians was work she found truly rewarding. 

Juliet valued the CBC and a good book, loved a weekend newspaper, the seawall, and the beach, and supported progressive causes. She was an inspired cook, and gathering around her dining room table meant fantastic food, wide-ranging conversation, and a beautiful ocean view. In retirement, Juliet continued to backcountry hike, ski Hollyburn, camp with family and friends, and keep a garden full of vegetables, berries, fruit, and flowers. She hiked with the North Shore Hikers and later with members of the West Vancouver Seniors Centre, where she became a weekly volunteer. Together, Dick and Juliet travelled extensively in their A-frame trailer, visiting state and national parks. People of all generations who passed through their Lawson Avenue home were nourished, enlightened, inspired, and often eager to join—or repeat—one of Mom and Dad’s epic adventures. Many returned year after year, always welcomed. 

Fit and active at eighty, Juliet began to show signs of dementia, marking a sad and frightening period of change. In her mid-eighties, she moved to a care facility, with Dick steadfastly by her side. 

Juliet leaves her children Anna (Ron), Puck (Bill), Alistair, and Matthew (Maria); her grandchildren Brigid, Colm, Josina (Matthew), Cody (Courtney), Kieran, Giovanna, and Juliet; and her great-grandchildren Ryan, Marlowe, Dominic, and Camille. We thank the staff at AgeCare Royal City for their kindness and care, and Karen Cavaleri for her friendship and support to both Dick and Juliet during their time at AgeCare.