Jan Lucile Vanderscoff Ford, 72, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, March 5, 2019 at her home in Front Royal, Virginia. Jan lived a life in full, and left us as a beloved mother, sister, aunt, and friend.
Jan was born on February 16, 1947 in Peoria, Illinois, to John Vanderscoff, a civil engineer and decorated WWII fighter pilot, and Jean Vanderscoff, née Haglund, a homemaker who loved art history, music, and books. Jan was raised and lived all across the country, first due to her father’s work with the V.A. and later for her 34-year career as a reservation agent for United Airlines. While she lived in 13 states and visited 49, creating close ties with her brother and parents, her spiritual home was always Kelly Lake, Wisconsin, where she visited her beloved Mema and Dodie as a little girl. She loved new places, people, and cultures, and her world travels took her from Okinawa to Colombia, including multiple trips to the special destinations of London, Hong Kong, and Hawai’i.
Jan will be remembered for her ability to connect with people and make others feel like the best and most interesting version of themselves. A warm friend and welcoming hostess, she loved her work and her family, and had the gift of putting people at ease. She made friends throughout her travels, and for decades if you flew with Jan to any given city, she somehow knew a gate agent or flight attendant, and they’d pick up a conversation from years before.
Fascinated with the past and a family historian par excellence, she attended Ithaca College, where she met lifelong friends, and later earned her certificate in historic preservation from Northern Virginia Community College. Always at home in a museum or an archaeological dig, she preserved precious family stories for future generations—all told with great style and verve—and worked to preserve the history of her community. As an admirer of art and literature, she was a voracious reader, and followed her artistic passions to take classes in stained glass, pottery, watercolor, and more around Front Royal. She was a fixture at her local library, where she checked out books by the stack. Ever curious, she was very much the daughter of both her art-loving mother and all-American father, whether she was talking about Van Gogh or rooting for the Packers.
Jan was married twice and had two children, who she took with her on her travels and to whom she passed on her gifts and her grace. In her later years, the onset of health adversity demonstrated the depth of that grace, determination, and humor. She was truly, as she liked to say, the “daughter of a Marine” until the end. After years of inspiring resilience, she passed away quietly, surrounded by loved ones and fielding calls from family and friends of all chapters of her life.
She was preceded in death by her parents and son-in-law Ryan Heilig. She is survived by her deeply loved family, including daughter, Alison Morgan Heilig of Sterling, Virginia; son, Matthew C. R. Ford of Fort Collins, Colorado; brother, Mark Georg Vanderscoff (Clare Henjum) of Novato, California; two nephews, Cameron Mark Vanderscoff of New York, New York and Roderic C. M. Vanderscoff of Austin, Texas; and her dear friend and caretaker, Rachel Keane (Brandie Shutts), of Front Royal, and lifelong friends.
A memorial service will take place later this spring. Jan’s final resting place will be in her family home of Wisconsin; as she did for her ancestors, we will keep her memory and legacy through telling stories of her remarkable life. She has been a link in history and meant so much to so many; we will always be grateful for the stories, love, and grace we have learned from her.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to Samuels Public Library, 330 E Criser Rd, Front Royal, VA 22630 or to the Humane Society of Warren County, 1245 Progress Dr, Front Royal, VA 22630.