Janice M. Pyle peacefully left this life while her daughters Cheryl Beck of Breckenridge, CO and Barbara Joyce of Waynesville held her hands.

Janice was predeceased by her husband of sixty years Dr. Gordon Pyle; her sister Grace Dorroh; brothers Jack and Richard Schell and grandson James Joyce Jr.

She is survived by children Cheryl Beck and Barbara Joyce. Grandchildren Alex, Zack (Aimee), Walter (Nancy) Joyce and grandchildren Saoirse, Sullivan, James, Claudia and Anna Kate Joyce.

Janice was four years old when she watched her mother and three siblings taken to a T.B. sanatorium in Pennsylvania. She and her father, out of caution, took a train south landing in a tented camp in the Florida Everglades two miles south of the Tamiami Trail, a frightening place to live. Brother Jack joined them for the worst of the depression. They both attended South Brevard High where she met and later married her husband Gordon, an Army aviator and test pilot of B 24s.

After WWII the GI Bill forced open the college doors to women and the middle classes. Janice took advantage becoming the first Home Coming Queen from the University of Florida and later graduated Summa Cum Laude.

She and Gordon returned to Hollywood Florida where she won first place in the Mrs. Hollywood Florida contest. Janice gave birth to Cheryl, the first baby born in Hollywood’s Memorial Hospital. Her second daughter Barbara was born in Columbus, Ohio where Gordon was getting his PHD at Ohio State.

Janice lived in Miami, Raleigh, Denver, Boston, Tyron, NC, and finally Naples, Florida. She worked in education, real estate and the Digital Equipment Company as a credit manager. She was often picked up by helicopter and flown to major banks in New York City. Janice was active in Kiwanis Club and taught remedial reading for the Methodist Church, was a member of the League of Women Voters and the Democratic Women’s Club. Five days before she passed away, she turned 100 years old.