Mary Janet Mcgowan

Mary Janet ‘Jan’ McGowan, age 93, of Mt. Carroll, IL, passed away on May 6, 2024, at Hawkeye Care Center, in Asbury, IA. A private, graveside service will be held at Lanark Cemetery in Lanark, IL.

Jan was born May 10, 1930, in Highland Park, MI, the daughter of Morris and Mary Elizabeth (Sadler) Greenlees. She grew up in the Urbana area and later moved to Chicago, graduating high school in 1948 from Francis Shimer Academy in Mt. Carroll, a private all-girls school at the time. During her high school years, she met William J. McGowan and married him shortly after her high school graduation.

Jan worked for Atwood Industries in Mt. Carroll for 27 years. Then from 1993 to 2008, she worked as a library assistant at the Mt. Carroll Library. Jan had a passion for reading and adored her library work. She was a Mt. Carroll Library Book Club and Board Member and was Board Trustee for ten years.

In her free time, Jan loved to travel, especially on trains. She enjoyed her many cats over the years as well as her shopping trips with friends and family. As she grew older, she cherished life as a grandma. She always looked forward to catching up with family, as long as it didn’t interrupt her Jeopardy time.

Jan will be dearly missed by her three daughters, Linda (Don) Close, of Ocala, FL, Julie (Dave) Castro and Mary Catherine “Cathy” (Michael) Fortman, all of Dubuque, IA; six grandchildren; and 7 great-grandchildren. Jan is preceded in death by her parents.