Janet Weiss spent most of her life in California as a teacher, comptroller and mother. She and former husband Doug have a son, Kurt, a daughter, Dana Taylor, of Whitefish, and four grandchildren.

After adequate testing to determine whether she could survive a Montana winter, Janet left the comforts of her ocean-side home to be near her daughter. It's a move she has never regretted. In her words, "I feel very lucky in moving to this beautiful place."

Explaining that in California she was too busy to develop many friendships, she declares, "I have more friends after seven years in Whitefish than I had in a lifetime in California." Always an aficionado of the arts, she was a long-time member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Light Opera and similar groups, but is simply amazed at the phenomenal quality of talent in this area.

She wants to be a part of "this wonderful community," and to that end gives freely of her time and talents. For the Glacier Symphony, the Alpine Theatre Project and the Bigfork Summer Playhouse, she performs services as ushering and ticket taking.

Each week she sorts, displays and sells clothes at the Soroptimist downtown shop and on a regular basis volunteers at North Valley Hospital, ushering patients to their various destinations. She helps at the Special Olympics and participates in providing the annual St. Patrick's Day dinner at Mountain Manor.

Especially rewarding to her is her sewing group, which knits "Linus blankets' for seriously ill or traumatized children, who choose their own "comfy" blanket from those displayed.

Janet, you are a welcome addition to our community. You bring comfort, hope and enjoyment to a wide spectrum of our people, and we thank you.

— Jake Heckathorn

This column is dedicated to those who give freely of their time and energy to worthwhile community projects, but whose efforts often go unnoticed. If you know such a person, please e-mail [email protected].