Janet Taylor Hargrave

Janet Taylor Hargrave passed away on Wednesday, October 13th, 2021. She was born on February 11th, 1946, in Snedens Landing, New York, daughter of John Taylor Hargrave and Stella Parlin Hargrave.

A registered nurse for 42 years, Janet worked for Mass General Hospital, after graduating from their nursing school, and then Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City between 1970 and 1986. She moved to Chagrin Falls at that point to be near family and worked initially for Cleveland Clinic, Geauga Hospital and then University Hospitals until her 2012 retirement. She was attending nurse to many star athletes and performers during her NYC years and enjoyed regaling family with tales about everyone from Joe Namath to Carrie Fisher and many more in between. She also loved to recount her father's legendary New York City pranks of the late 1920s.

Janet was her family's anchor and caretaker during the final years of her parents' lives, and she also became close with her father's second wife, Marjorie. Generous and self-deprecating, "AJ" (short for "Aunt Janet") showered her niece and nephew with love, and never missed an opportunity to send a quippy card or a thoughtful hand-written note. An animal lover, Janet kept pets most of her adult life and was a strong supporter of Rescue Village in Novelty. Janet was devoted to St. Christopher's Church in Gates Mills, where she studied to become a Stephen Minister in her last few years. She found peace and fulfillment in comforting fellow parishioners who were ailing or in hospice.

Friends will remember Janet as caring, devoted, enthusiastic, and opinionated. She embodied kindness and was a dedicated patient's advocate in her career. She had a great laugh that sometimes led to a great snort. She inherited her Dad's penchant for doggerel and outrageous puns, always delivered with a glint ih her eye and a slap of her knee. She had a rock-solid moral compass and believed deeply in the strengths of compassion, humor, common sense, and kindness.

Janet had grand travel adventures in Scotland, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Bermuda, Jamaica, France, Maine, Key West, and Los Angeles. She also worked as a nanny in Norway after finishing high school.

Janet will be missed by her sister Parlin, brother-in-law Bill, step-siblings Audrey, John, and James, nephew John and his wife Jennifer, niece Parlin (PJ) and her husband Jon, and "greats" Eben, Elliot, Hayden, and Mabel, as well as many dear friends in New York, Chagrin, and beyond.

Her family invites anyone wishing to honor Janet to make a donation in her memory, to Rescue Village of Novelty, Ohio.

A memorial service will be held at St Christopher by-the-River next spring.

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