Janis Elaine Fowler returned to her heavenly home on September 22, 2024, at the age of 80.  She is survived by her daughter Lori Lyn Faulkner; her daughter Jodi Fowler Jayne and husband, Andrew; her grandchildren Jantzen Faulkner, Evelyn Jayne, and Ben Jayne; her brothers Larry Johnson and Brent Johnson, and sister Connie Oakley and husband, Curtis; her niece Angela Hammond and husband, Jeff; her nephew Tommy Oakley; and many loving cousins and their families.

Janis was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, to Forrest and Audrey Johnson, and was the oldest of four siblings.  As a young girl, she loved to read and spend hours in cozy reading nooks at her Grandma Carrie's house.  Janis was a gifted academic student, with a flair for creative writing and the English language.  She was a cheerleader at Ottumwa High School, where she met a basketball player named Ray Fowler, and they became high school sweethearts.  Ray and Janis were married in 1965 and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where Janis finished her bachelor's and master's degrees in English at the University of Tulsa.  During their thirty-one-year marriage, Ray and Janis made a lovely life together raising their two daughters, spending weekends in Bella Vista, and taking annual trips back to Ottumwa to see their families.  Most of those family trips were in a carpeted conversion van, with everyone singing along to Elvis and Jim Croce on the 8-track.

Janis was a joyfully devoted teacher.  She taught English and creative writing at Union High School for twenty-nine years, cultivating essay-writing skills and helping students discover their creative talents.  She often graded late into the night with her red pen in her favorite recliner.  Janis oversaw publication of the anthology and led an after-school Christian club with her close friend, Lana Yates.

She was also a joyfully devoted mom and grandma.  She raised her two feisty daughters, Lori and Jodi, to be hard-working and humble women of faith.  She kissed away the scrapes, hugged away the heartbreaks, answered the late-night calls, and loved unconditionally.  Janis devoted her retirement years to her grandkids and wrote a poem called "The Surprise Party," which depicts the surprising joys of being a grandparent.  Playing on her favorite Psalm, she wrote, "The cup of this grandma runneth over."

Most importantly, she was a joyfully devoted Christian who studied the Word and was a prayer warrior for others.  She found God's blessings everywhere -- in a pink Oklahoma sunset, a hot cup of coffee, a well-written story, praise music in her car, her TV preachers, phone calls with loved ones, and lunches with her many dear friends in Tulsa.  When her life had thorns, she relied on God to prune them and grow her faith.  She had a sincere peace and radiated inner joy, even in her final hours.  She laughed often, loved well, and inspired many to faith. Surely goodness and mercy followed her all the days of her life, and she will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

A celebration of life will be held Monday, September 30, 2024, at 11:00am at Christ Church on Harvard, 3515 S. Harvard Ave., Tulsa, OK 74135. Flowers may be sent to Stanley's Funeral Home.

Services will be livestreamed from the Church's website at https://christchurchonharvard.org/

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Christ Church on Harvard https://christchurchonharvard.org/other/give

The Assembly at Broken Arrow https://theassembly.org/give/

Oklahoma Susan G. Komen breast cancer research fund https://www.komen.org/community/oklahoma/?form=fy25_wacoal_3x&s_src=komen.org&s_subsrc=main_nav_donate