Janice Katherine (Friess) Hornung’s life was a life of love. She was born on February 3, 1939, to Matthias and Mary (Mayme) Friess of Ransom. She was born into a large family, the 16th of 19 children.
Janice earned a bachelor of education degree and began her love of teaching. She taught elementary students in Spearville, Windthorst and the Ransom school district’s for 30 plus years! Janice was an extraordinary teacher. She would often wear a dress and heels to teach elementary students and she played with them during recess, in heels! She was firm but fun and those of us who had her as a teacher were very lucky.
She met and married Ron Hornung from Spearville in July 1985 and instantly became a mother to four adult children and a grandma as well, a job she embraced with love and humor. Janice and Ron worked hard together to build up the farm. They cleared farmland, planted trees, and ultimately moved their house from Ransom to Spearville, where it became home. She helped us finesse our culinary skills as well as gardening, canning, and candy-making, all of which she reigned supreme. Her pies and cakes were legendary, as was her sense of humor when gifting a baked item! She once gifted a “do it yourself” apple pie! Her grandkids and daughters clamored over her Poppy Seed Cake and the famous ‘Green Cake’, which wasn’t green at all! She would make turkey dinners, fry chicken and gizzards, make the most amazing chicken noodle soup, and she would do this with love because she hated anything with feathers!
Her skills at gardening were also mythical. She planted nearly an acre of various vegetables every year. Her hard work paid off in bushels of potatoes, tomatoes, ocra, peppers, peas, corn, asparagus, zucchini, melons, and rhubarb just to name a few. The bounty of her garden graced many tables as she gave away far more than she canned. She shared her love through her cooking and her garden and that was a gift for us all.
Janice passed in the early morning hours of December 31, 2021, seven weeks to the day after Ron, her husband and soul mate. She is preceded in death by her husband, Ron; her brothers, Elmer, Eugene, Lewis, Don, Warren James, Bernard, and Cletus; her sisters, Laurene, Marjorie, and Anna Mae; and her parents. She is survived by her four daughters, Renelda Hornung, Nadine (Buckley) Baker, Jill (Rick) Heeke, and Bonnie Scott; 11 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and nine great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral mass will be held at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Spearville on Friday, January 7, 2022, at 10:30 AM with Rev. John Forkuoh presiding. Burial will follow at St. John's Cemetery in Spearville. Visitation will be at Swaim Funeral Chapel in Dodge City on Thursday, January 6, 2022, from 12:00 PM to 4:00 PM with a vigil to follow at 7:00 PM at the church.
Memorials are suggested to the Spearville EMS in care of the funeral home. Thoughts and memories may be shared in the online guest book at www.swaimfuneralhome.com.