Rev. Dr. Janine Wilson was joy and wisdom incarnate. She loved Matthew fiercely, with a tenderness and delight that is rare in this world and precious to behold. Before they ever knew that they would one day marry, she spent countless hours building an HO scale model lighthouse, painting each shingle with the world’s tiniest paintbrush; Matthew spent countless hours many states and years away building a model ship, plank by plank. God knew long before they did that they were destined to find each other, again and again, throughout their life together.
Witnessing their love inspired their children to cultivate well-tended friendship as the foundation of their relationships too, as they witnessed and celebrated Matthew and Janine’s particular love which was buoyed by playfulness, invigorated by shared curiosity about each other and the world, and infused with a sense of adventure in experiencing each new day as a true gift with all life’s simple joys. Whether growing tomatoes together, hopping in the car for one of their hallmark spur-of-the-moment road trips to wherever the nearest backroad highway would take them, or sharing a cup of morning coffee on any front porch, these two love birds lived fully present to each other and to the simple joys that fill our hearts when we pay attention. Their love was and always will be an extension of God’s own heartbeat.
Some people stumble their way into parenting— but not Janine. Janine was born to be a mother. It was a calling for her, as she parented someone under the age of 18 in her home for forty-one consecutive years. As much as she loved serving churches, mothering her kiddos— at every age and stage of their lives— was her deepest delight.
She mothered Jeni Melinda, Benjamin, and Katie Ann, and then leapt at the holy opportunity to mother Aaron and Joel when Matthew and Janine fell in love. She loved her children’s spouses, Ashley and Scott, from the moment she met them, blessing their marriages to Ben and Katie in her role as pastor-mom, and later on welcoming and loving Joel’s spouse, Alaysia, and Aaron’s spouse, Lizzy, with joy and hope, even as Alzheimer’s began to grip her. Janine’s love for her children and grandchildren never faded, despite this disease which she called, in her final days, “a whole lot of stupid.” Her grandchildren knew her as Grammy. Grammy was always ready to play “Where’s My Water” with Landon, to ride the Jellystone campground train for the millionth time with Aiden and Tucker, to sew a skirt covered in butterflies for Brynley, or blow bubbles on the front porch in her final years with Jean and Anya. Janine’s debut as Grammy— holding Phoenix in her arms for the first time— paved the way for decades of fun. From her wise decision to fill a refrigerator box with packing peanuts to fashion a slide for toddler Phoen to plop into, to the gentleness with which she gave each grandchild their very first baths in a kitchen sink, Grammy’s love permeated everything.
Rev. Dr. Janine Wilson was also a brilliant woman, with wisdom that seemed to come straight from the Holy Spirit. She was never “preachy,” but oh how she could preach! God’s love poured out through her prayers, as poetry seemed to flow straight from her heart to God’s own when she led God’s people in worship. Though she had never met a female pastor when she sensed God’s calling for her life, she kept listening, and going wherever God would send her.
She first earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology over seemingly endless years of night school while raising three young kids. It was in that program she also met her best friend Marilyn. Janine went on to earn her Master of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, followed years later by a Doctorate of Ministry too. She served churches as pastor in Tulsa and Pryor Creek, Oklahoma; in Dayton, Belle Center, and Columbus, Ohio; and as “pastor to pastors” as executive leadership in both the PCUSA and UCC, serving in Grace Presbytery in Texas and later in the Central Southeast Ohio Association. Janine was a gifted listener and leader, with a quiet humility and faith that grounded every room she entered. Her heart was connected to the Holy One, and so being, she helped connect us to God. She learned about God first as a Moravian, then as a Presbyterian, then as a United Church of Christ pastor who lived Micah 6:8 in her daily life and in her ministry.
Rev. Dr. Helen Janine Wilson truly worked for justice in community, loved kindness and lived her life sharing it, and now walks humbly with God through the light of eternity.
To celebrate her life: Go and feed someone today, or help them find a safe place to sleep and to heal when your neighbors find themselves unhoused. Liberate a critter from a shelter— adopt that back room, returned-ferret, or sneak that lab rat named Spock out of the impending doom of medical research, or welcome a chicken that appears on your doorstep one day and build him a coop. Welcome a shelter dog into your life or donate to an animal shelter near you. Give to a public library, and make sure to read, read, read! Teach someone something that brings you joy. Put out a hummingbird feeder. Watch a sunrise or a NASA space launch. Make a wish on a shooting star, and hold someone’s hand. Tell Matthew that he’s wonderful. Tell her children and grandchildren that they carry her heart in their own. Make someone’s life a little better today, and do it in Janine’s name. Know that whenever you do justice, love with kindness, and walk humbly with God, we honor her legacy and God’s love.
In lieu of flowers, please join her family in giving to Greensburg Presbyterian Church (119 N Main St, Greensburg, KY 42743) and Hosparus Health Barren River (101 Riverwood STE B, Bowling Green, KY 42103) to help fund the angels walking among us who show up with scrubs on to help us through our final weeks and final hours.
A celebration of life will be scheduled at a later date.
Gupton Landrum Funeral Home in Greensburg is in charge of the arrangements.
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