Janice Sarah Indeck

Janice Indeck, born Janice Sarah Rabinovitz, passed away on August 11 at the age of 93. The daughter of Ada and Jacob Rabinovitz, she began her life in Boston Massachusetts until eventually trading the harsh winters for the warmth and sunshine of Coral Springs, Florida. As the steadfast matriarch of a sprawling family, it was her boundless passion that became the gravitational force that held us together through times of prosperity and periods of struggle and would endure to shape the generations to come.

For Janice, an eternal romantic, life was a constant adventure filled with literary pursuits, spur of the moment trips, and most importantly, love. Like she said, “I love life, others dream of something better, I dream of more of the same.” However, her deepest love was for her six children, their spouses, her 17 grandchildren and two great grandchildren, each of whom claim their own special relationship with “Granjan.” A prolific writer, she imprinted us all with her talent to capture the magic of words and inspired many of us to become school newspaper editors, writers, and poets—while ingraining writing into the very soul of our family. She published a novel, One Last Child and countless collections of poems and aphorisms. But her tremendous literary influence did not stop there. Up until her illness, Janice taught classes at the local library and through video conferences with the goal of guiding her many class participants to write their life stories, giving a voice to so many who had previously been unheard and securing their narratives in history. The classes grew and for many the joy of writing became a highlight of their lives.

Granjan had an indomitable will, the impossible was merely a temporary condition. Born an heiress to the Stop and Shop empire her father started, Janice found herself at one point with her fortune gone and six children to support. Drawing from her knowledge of antiques, Janice started a business.  She began with yard sales, graduated to estate sales, opened her own successful antique store, “Yesterday’s Yield,” and then become an auctioneer. This child of privilege proved she could succeed in the toughest of circumstances. Janice was very specific that she was four feet, eleven and three-quarters of an inch tall, but her presence in our lives was that of a giant. None of her will to thrive was lost on those that loved her. Each of us, when times got tough, would reach out to Granjan, never failing to come away with a sense of strength and purpose to overcome the hurdles in our lives.

Married four times, the brilliant and beautiful Janice Rabinovitz loved the way she lived—passionately.  She was always stylish, favored extravagant jewelry and was ravenous for a new adventure. She craved knowledge and astounded many doctors and scholars with her grasp of a seemingly limitless store of information and opinions. Life with Granjan was inescapably vivacious, compellingly chaotic, and absolutely unforgettable. She was also the rock that we all stood upon, and we will miss her fiercely. But her astonishing legacy has insured that each of us will be able to hear the strength of her counsel in our minds for evermore.