Janet Rae Shaw

Janet Rae Shaw, 86, passed away peacefully with her children and many other loved ones by her side at her home in The Villages, Florida, on June 5, 2025.

Her Chapel and Gravesite services will be held on Saturday, June 28, 2025, at 11 a.m. in the Chapel at Anderson Memorial Park Cemetery, in Anderson, Indiana. She will be buried with her mother, Vivian Jordan Wilson, next to her father, William “Bill” Wilson, at their side-by-side gravesites nearby the Chapel.

A resident of Montgomery in the late 1970s, and then again throughout the 1990s, Janet, known as “Jan Rhodes” during her time in Montgomery, was born in 1939 in Anderson, Indiana, as Janet Rae Wilson. She was raised by her parents, the late William “Bill” Wilson and the late Vivian Jordan Wilson until she was 14, at which time each passed away a short time from each other. Jan was then raised by her beloved sister, the late Betty Catherine Toombs, and her beloved brother-in-law, the late Donald Jack Toombs.

Jan attended Anderson High School until her junior year when she moved briefly to Pottstown, PA, where she graduated from Pottstown High School in 1957.

In 1960, Jan married the late Col. Thomas Kneale Rhodes, also of Anderson, and an officer in the United States Air Force. She moved all over the world as an Air Force wife and young mother, landing in Montgomery with her family in 1975l. While there, Jan made many friends and was involved in community activities such as The Montgomery Bridge Club. She also worked as the personnel administrator at Baptist Hospital.

Later in life, some years after moving to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH., Jan married the late James Shaw of Pittsburgh, PA. The two were married for nine years until his passing in 1996. Jan soon returned to Montgomery to be closer to her children, where she worked as Volunteer Coordinator for The Montgomery Museum of Arts and the Montgomery Regional Cancer Center, where she made many, many dear friends for life.

After retirement, in the early 2000s, Jan moved to Long Island, NY to be near her children and grandchildren, where she lived until moving to The Villages, Florida. There, she was able to reconnect with many of her friends from Anderson High School and enjoy life with her “Indianettes,” and the scores of other friends she made.

Jan is survived by three children, Merri Jill Rhodes, Christie Ann Rhodes, and Timothy Kneale Rhodes; five grandchildren, Sean Patrick, Merri Kelly, Tyler Kneale Blankenship, Amanda Fain Davis, and Evan Rhodes Britt; sister-in-law, Paula Sue Rhodes of Anderson, Indiana; nieces and nephews, all of Anderson, Indiana, Nancy Jackson Weinert, Daniel Wilson Toombs, David Toombs, Mike Toombs, Kelli Rhodes Taylor, Kevin Rhodes, and Kent Rhodes, including their spouses, children and grandchildren. She is also survived by the children of her second husband, James Shaw, i.e., DeeDee Shaw and her daughter Dana Berry, and Scott Shaw, who all loved her dearly, as well.

Jan was affectionately known for years by her family and friends as “Granny Janny,” and lived a love- and faith-filled, valiant, courageous life, after battling back from several cancer diagnoses throughout the years.

In her honor and to remember Jan with love, flowers may be sent through Toles Florist in Anderson, Indiana, who will deliver them directly to the Chapel at the services at Anderson Memorial Park Cemetery.