Janet Drake
Jan 11, 1930 -
May 28, 2020
Janet Drake, "Tutu," age 90, passed away peacefully on May 28, 2020, from pneumonia. Born in 1930 in Baltimore, she was raised during times when refrigerators were cooled by blocks of ice delivered to their house, radio was king and television was just beginning.
She met her husband, Duane Drake on a blind date at a bowling alley. He was a young doctor in Johns Hopkins Medical School and she was studying to be a Registered Nurse at Union Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. They married while still in school, ordered their wedding rings from a Montgomery Ward catalog and were together for 59 years.
They had their first child, Christine, in Baltimore before the young graduates ventured west to Colorado.
Janet had two more children, Kelly and Marsha, while living in Denver during Duane's internship and residency. Next stop was a move to Mercer Island in Seattle for Duane's work at Swedish Hospital. Then, in 1956, they loaded up a station wagon and drove the Alcan to Anchorage where she lived out the "pioneer woman" stage of her life. They moved into the "ancestral home" in 1958. It was a log and stone homestead on the outer edge of Anchorage at the time. Janet lived there for 62 years until her recent passing.
She added two more kids, Alan and Richard, to the bunch and embraced a self-sustaining lifestyle like so many Alaskans. She tended a large garden filled with peas, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, lettuce, turnips, radishes, onions and more potatoes. She made coveted jams and jellies from raspberries, strawberries, currants, rosehips and rhubarb, all found or cultivated on the property. She went on hunting trips for moose and caribou, traveling by horseback on "Sunny" her palomino. Janet baked 6-8 loaves of bread every week, using a hand-crank dough mixer she held between her knees. Frugal and practical to a fault, she prepared three square meals a day for family of seven week in and week out.
She was always home for her children, supervising summer yard chores, helping set up backyard tents for sleepovers or games of badminton, croquet, volleyball, soccer and baseball. She didn't drive the clan all over town—they biked or walked to The Spa swimming pool, Goose Lake or the Book Cache. Summers were filled with family fishing and camping trips. When they added "the cabin" at Mt. Alyeska in 1965, Fridays found groceries, clean bedding and gear lined up in the hallway ready for regular weekends of skiing, card games, cocktail and fondue parties, and polka dancing. She regularly helped out with downhill ski races as a gatekeeper and timing assistant.
Janet was a dedicated member of the Providence Medical Auxiliary, a group of volunteers also known as the "Pink Ladies," for over 20 years. In recent years, she participated in the Magic Yarn Project, a nonprofit co-founded by her granddaughter Bree, crocheting caps for pediatric cancer patients.
Janet was a voracious reader, checking out a stack of books weekly from Loussac Library. In later years, she and her husband traveled extensively: Europe, Mexico, Australia, the South Pacific, drove across the Lower 48, rode the train across Canada, cruised the Caribbean and the Panama Canal, and enjoyed their condo on Maui.
Tutu was a devoted grandma, attending her grandchildren's events - games, concerts, graduations. She was a "soccer grandmom." She got her first iPad on her 80th birthday and used it to stay in touch with her kids, grandkids and great-grandkids.
Janet fought Parkinson's disease for over 20 years, directing her own care, taking care of her own finances and keeping track of her growing legacy. She looked forward to traditional holiday gatherings which grew to 25-plus in Anchorage! Her final social event was a gathering of the "lunch bunch" on the front lawn, social distancing, just a week before she died.
Janet is preceded in death by her husband Duane Drake, MD in 2009. She is survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Barbara and Will Prochazka and their children; children and their spouses, Chris and Tom Vasileff, Kelly and Annie Drake, Marsha and Bob Crockett, Alan and Lanice Drake, Richard Drake and Becky Harrison-Drake; grandchildren and their spouses, Bree Hitchcock and Ryan Schmittinger, Kyle Hitchcock, Kelsey Drake and Jeremy Belter, Courtney Drake and John Doherty, Bryan and Lauren Crockett, Christina Crockett, Robin and Dale Harris, Shelby Drake, Lexi Drake, Harrison Mann, Mickey Mann; and many great-grandchildren.
A full 90 years with no time for boredom! We all miss her. Love you, Mom!
Janet will join her husband at the Anchorage Memorial Park Cemetery Columbarium and per her wishes, there will be no service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Magic Yarn Project, www.magicyarnproject.com.
