CELEBRATING A JOY-FILLED LIFE

The Joy of Childhood

Jan was born to Paul and Rosemary Koprowski in Toledo, Ohio, and grew up in Winona, Minn., surrounded by her five siblings—Paul, John, Phil, Loren, and Mary Clare. The city and the Mississippi River Valley remained deeply meaningful to her throughout her life. She often speculated that the Garden of Eden was likely located there. Her parents remained lifelong residents of Winona, and Jan and her family returned to this special place to live from 1974 to 1977. Fond memories of Winona included her days as a teenage lifeguard at the city beach on the Mississippi River and walking to the library with books balanced atop her head in an ongoing effort to improve her posture.

Jan graduated from Winona Cotter High School and earned degrees in social work and psychology from St. Theresa’s College, where her father was a professor—her choice of degrees reflecting her desire to help others and share joy with the world around her.

The Joy of Marriage

Following her junior year in college, Jan set out on a social work practicum in Sauk Centre, Minn., where an acquaintance (and future sister-in-law) set her up on a blind date. Rich and Jan had their first date on August 12, 1961, were engaged on October 12, 1962, and married in Winona on May 18, 1963. The two were passionately in love and deeply connected for the rest of their lives. No person has been blessed with a more caring and doting spouse than Jan Voller. That guy was smitten from beginning to end. She knew it and loved him in return.

The Joy of Family

The couple welcomed their first son, Steven, in 1965. Three more boys arrived in quick succession over the next three years: Thomas, David, and Robert. Ten years later, the long-awaited daughter, Karen, was welcomed into the brood. Jan loved her boys, but this girl (her Angel Wings) was a special gift of joy to offset the overwhelming abundance of teenage male testosterone she was otherwise immersed in. In raising her children, Jan discovered the profound joy of motherhood and dedicated her life to her family. 

Jan delighted in every stage of her children’s lives, orchestrating school activities, celebrating milestones, and creating moments of love and joy at home. Even amidst the energy and chaos of a house full of children, her joy was infectious, shaping a family life rich in laughter, memories, and heartfelt connection. She was known to have no shortage of questions when catching up on her children’s and grandchildren’s lives!

The Joy of Place

From the western suburbs of the Twin Cities to Red Wing, Winona, Granite Falls, Marshall, Duluth, and finally Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Jan carried with her a spirit of joy that brightened every place she called home. Each place became home to new adventures, friendships, traditions, and meaningful moments. Jan’s joy was woven into every school program she supported, every walk (“hoofing it,” as she called it) around the perimeter of Granite Falls or searching for mermaid tears (glass polished over time by waves, rocks, and sand) along the Lake Superior shore, and every connection she nurtured. No matter the address, her presence filled the space with joy.

The Joy of Traditions

There were many years of camping: tents, campers, kids all stuffed into a station wagon and off to a state park or KOA, with Mom relegated to the middle of the rear seat in a challenging endeavor to keep the boys a safe distance from each other. Arriving at the campground often meant a significant amount of time devoted to Jan finding THE BEST campsite while the boys were stationed as sentries to guard potential contenders.

While camping ebbed as the kids grew up, it was renewed by an annual blueberry-picking trip to Lake Janette (on the edge of the BWCA) with Rich’s brother, Don, and his wife, Arlene. Jan was known for meticulously “picking clean” the blueberries while sitting endlessly in the same spot. There were no stems and leaves in her bucket, and no ripe blueberries remaining on nearby plants!

For nearly 30 years, family camping outings were replaced by a weeklong, Fourth of July family vacation to a cabin on Lake Edna, just north of Nisswa, Minnesota. It was here that Jan was in her full element – a woman thriving, perfectly at ease, and surrounded by those she loved. Good books, trips to the coffee shop, bike rides, boat rides, beach time, and evening board games animated the days, but the time spent with her family mattered most.

The Joy of Seasons

That summer celebration had its counterpart in the family’s annual Christmas extravaganza. Nobody was ever more committed to the season than Jan Voller. Boxes of Christmas decorations emerged from storage each year to fill the house with signs of the season, each item’s location carefully documented to make future placement easier. The Christmas music of the Statler Brothers and Anne Murray would waft through the house.

And then the baking would begin—most often, and to Jan’s great pleasure, with her kids, grandkids, or Rich at her side. No-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies topped with a Hershey’s Kiss, ginger cookies with a Red Hot center, and peanut butter chocolate Wheat Thins were among her favorites. But it was always the frosted sugar cookies—with decorating that required the involvement of others—that brought her the most joy.

The Christmas Eve ritual of grilled cheese sandwiches and soup was followed by a special visit from Santa Claus and Elfie, with Jan fully committing to the role of oblivious Mom even when no children or grandchildren were in the audience. Aloud, she would lament that Tom and whichever sibling was playing the role of Elfie that given year were unable to be present.

In her family, in her daily life, in important life events, and in the smallest of things, meaning and meaningfulness were of highest importance to Jan. It’s improbable that anyone ever received a humorous birthday or holiday card from Jan Voller. No. Her cards came with meaning and thoughtfulness, and if not already printed on the card (or even if already there), a “joy,” and an “ILY” or two or more would be included in the note that typically filled every bit of white space to be found.

The Joy of Jan

For Jan, things mattered, events mattered, traditions mattered, and most of all, people mattered. For those of us blessed to be her family and friends, Jan mattered. We will mourn the loss of her presence in our lives, but we will celebrate the gift of joy she gave us.

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The family welcomes memorial donations to Mayo Clinic or Essentia Health.

Mayo Clinic: https://www.mayoclinic.org/giving-to-mayo-clinic
Essentia Health: https://www.essentiahealth.org/foundation