Janet Marie Schwenke, of Indianola, Iowa, was born on May 10, 1957 and went to be with her Savior on Tuesday, October 3, 2023. She was 66 years old when she passed away surrounded by her husband and children.

Funeral services will be held 11 a.m., Friday, October 6, 2023 at Calvary Baptist Church in Indianola. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m., Saturday, October 7, 2023 in the Massena Cemetery, Massena, Iowa. A gathering time for family and friends will continue following the service at the church. Visitation will be held prior to services at the church from 10 to 11 a.m., on Friday.

Janet Marie leaves behind her husband Gail; six children, Melisa (Tim), Rebecca, Jonathan (Alison), Benjamin (Dorothy), Karalyn (Alex), and Rosalea (fiancé David); twelve grandchildren, Evan, Karli, Emily, Luke, Caleb, Isabella, Noah, Gideon, Jericho, Phineas, Deborah and one more baby on the way; as well as, her siblings and many nieces and nephews.

Janet Marie grew up in Davenport, Iowa, with her parents Donna and Richard Andresen and her siblings Sheri (Al), Andy (Kathy), and Eric (Denise). She graduated from West High School in 1975 and did a year at Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna, Minnesota. She worked as a candy striper while in high school and worked as a nurses aid at both a hospital and a nursing home after high school. She met and fell in love with Gail Schwenke and they were married June 3, 1978. Janet Marie and Gail moved to Indianola soon after they married and raised all of their children from the home and life they built there. They celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary this summer before her passing.

Janet Marie was passionate about a great number of things in her life, with her family and children being the highest priority next to her devotion to God.

She crusaded and picketed to legalize homeschooling as one of the pioneering families of home education in Iowa and proceeded to homeschool her 6 children over the course of four decades from 1984-2018.  Janet Marie loved flowers and gardening and always was picking up new flowers, when she saw any that caught her eye. At one point, there were over a thousand flowers at the family home. Janet Marie loved to bake and taught her children entrepreneurship by selling baked goods at the local farmers market for many years. She was creative in many ways some of which were that she enjoyed painting, floral arrangement, clothing embellishment and creating unique seasonal items that she sold at various arts and crafts fairs. She also took cake decorating and created many wonderful and tasty cakes for events and celebrations for her family, friends and local businesses. Janet Marie loved music in all forms and always kept a song in her heart which she loved to share with others be it singing at church or writing her own worship music to sing around the house.

Janet Marie had a deep and profound faith in her Lord and Savior and believed in the power of prayer which she exercised often as a prayer warrior. Janet Marie struggled with health issues her whole life and her family takes comfort knowing she is now at peace and no longer in pain. Janet Marie was proceeded in death by her parents Richard and Donna Andresen, her grandmother Isabelle Goben, and her nephew Daniel Andresen.