Janet Haman Keck

RUTLAND- Janet Haman Keck, 89, died at Rutland Regional Medical Center after a brief illness on April 27, 2024. She was born August 9th,1934 in Coronado, California, the only child of Claude and Nina Haman, both of Roseville, California. Jan’s mother was a talented artist, and her father was a naval aviator and Annapolis graduate.

Jan’s childhood as a Navy brat was nomadic. She moved at least 12 times and attended four different high schools. As a young girl, stationed at Pearl Harbor with her parents, Jan remembered the sound of bombs falling during the Japanese attack, and zigzagging back to the States in a convoy with her mother. While her father survived, he was killed 13 months later in a base fire in Argentia, Newfoundland where his squadron had been patrolling the north Atlantic.

The next several years were difficult, and Jan often spoke of how happy she was when her mother remarried in 1947; she got a wonderful stepfather, Navy Captain Donald Mills, and a stepsister and brother she adored. Always the optimist, Jan’s ability to adapt to new surroundings and savor life never left her.

Jan attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison and loved it. She earned a BS in art, joined the Delta Gamma sorority, and served as a judge on the UW student court. She also met the love of her life there, John Andrew Keck, of Watertown, Wisconsin. The two married in 1957 and Wisconsin became her home for the next 64 years.

Jan put her creative skills to work when she and John designed and built their mid-century modern dream home on a wooded lot in Wauwatosa that she landscaped with wildflowers.

Their neighborhood was magical, and the bonds forged there remain strong today. Jan gave her kids the freedom to explore and fail and had a wonderful hands-off approach to parenting. She taught the important things: don’t whine, don’t be judgemental, be kind, laugh, love and have fun. Jan was stylish, well-read and a great hostess. She loved her family, friends, and a good vodka gimlet.

As macular degeneration cruelly took her vision, she lost the ability to read and drive. But she showed how to adapt and age gracefully even when she had to move and start over near her daughter in Vermont. In her final years, she traveled to Alaska, back to Wisconsin and just two weeks before she died, to Alabama for an amazing family reunion. When pneumonia hit suddenly, she died on her own terms with her kids and family holding her hands.

Jan was predeceased by her stepbrother Donald Mills, her stepsister Judy Collins, and her husband of 53 years John Keck. She is survived by her son Kevin Keck (Alice Chen), daughter Nina Keck Coombs (Seth Coombs) and grandchildren: Brenna and Madison Coombs, and Karl and Annika Keck. A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, Janet requested that friends consider donating to Rutland’s senior rideshare program One2One, 16 North Street Ext., Rutland, VT 05701.

Arrangements are under the direction of Clifford Funeral Home.