Janice Reed Howland of Reading passed out of pain and into a well-deserved peace on November 28, 2017 at the age of 62. Janice was the loving sister of Deborah Howland Tolla and Cheryl Howland and loving sister in law of Eva Gibavic. She was pre-deceased by her mother and father, Norma and Charles Howland. She was the dear Aunt of Alicia Tolla along with John Tolla and wife Catherine. She was also the proud great aunt of Gianna and John Tolla Jr. Family was everything to her. 

Janice was born on December 7, 1954- Pearl Harbor day, as she loved to say.  Janice was a person with Down Syndrome who was educated in the Reading and Stoneham public schools and she was very proud the fact that she graduated from High school 1979. She learned to read well and was a wiz at performing basic math in her head.  In her first group home, she regularly did the shopping for her group home and knew to the penny what things would cost and what her change would be. In her younger years Jan loved to sing, watch baseball and she was especially fond the Brady Bunch. She had a strong artistic sense and was skilled at adult coloring, rug hooking, and word puzzles. Janice was a wiz at Horseshoes and bowling and she won many a medal at Special Olympics.

Jan had several dear friends who were like her family over the course of her life and she loved them all especially her housemates, Leslie, Carol, Ellen, Tim, Scott, Robbie, Nancy, Allison and others who she felt were her family. She considered her beloved caregivers and friends Brittney, David, Katarina, Shara, Neece, IJ, Annie and so many others from EMARC. Lauren and Sherri, from The Department of Developmental Services, Julie and David from The Shore Collaborative, and many, many others to be part of her wide family as well.

Janice by her birth, her intelligence, her wicked sense of humor and her profoundly aware presence helped to change the world for many people with Intellectual Disabilities. As she said, She was not “special,” she was “regular”. We would like to offer our enormous gratitude to all those at EMARC, DDS, Care Dimensions, Shore Collaborative, Danielle Burdo, Dr. Gulla, Kathy Lewis and Dr. Julie Moran for their steadfast commitment to Janice    

A short service of remembrance will be held at The Cota Funeral Home, Park Street North Reading from 10:00AM to12:00 PM, with a visiting hour from 10-11..  The family is asking those whose lives were changed by Janice to perhaps share a story or two about her as part of the service.  

Although we love and appreciate flowers, please make donations in memory of  Janice to:  EMARC  60-D Audubon Rd, Wakefield, MA, 01880, theemarc.org. Care Dimensions, 75 Sylvan St,  Suite B102, Danvers, MA 01923,  caredimensions.org or Shore Educational  Collaborative Foundation, Inc. and mailed to: SEC Foundation, 100 Revere Beach Parkway. Chelsea, MA 02150

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