Janet Walz has lived a life stitched together by love of family, craft and a community that has come to feel like home.
At 86, the Lantern Crest Senior Living resident in Santee has more than enough reasons to celebrate Mother’s Day: three daughters, eight grandchildren and a growing roster of great-grandchildren who keep her heart full.
Walz has called Lantern Crest home for a total of eight years, first arriving with her late husband after they decided to settle into senior living together. When his dementia progressed they had to move because he required specialized care. After he passed, her daughters made the case for her return.
“My daughters said I belonged at Lantern Crest, so I came back,” Walz said.
She found comfort in familiar friendships and the added blessing of her sister, who also lived there at the time.
Born in Nebraska, Walz has called San Diego County home since age 10, settling eventually in Allied Gardens before moving to Big Bear when her husband retired, and eventually landing at Lantern Crest. Three of her daughters still live in San Diego, making get-togethers a regular occurrence.
Walz’s daughters have found their own way to bring joy to Lantern Crest and to their mother. For nearly five years, they have shown up to decorate her apartment entryway for every holiday and then descended on the community’s happy hour in full costume. Santa’s helpers at Christmas. Bees in the spring. Valentine’s cupids in February. Easter eggs with bunny ears most recently. They dance with residents, hand out small gifts and have become something of an institution.
“They made happy hour even happier,” Walz said.
Over the decades Walz has crafted memory quilts for each of her grandchildren, many presented at their first communions when they were 8 years old. The quilts tell each child’s story in fabric such as a baseball diamond for one grandson, a basketball court for another.
“With every ball bounce he grew up,” she said.
“I joke around,” Walz said of her baseball-playing grandchild. “One of these days he’s going to be a Padre. That would be a dream.”
Another grandson is now a doctor in the Navy. Walz does not hide her pride.
“I have some really good grandchildren,” she said.
Earlier this year, Walz displayed her memory quilts in Lantern Crest’s lobby during a community quilt show. Now she is passing the craft on, teaching fellow residents.
Walz was a stay-at-home mother who served as a Girl Scout assistant leader and rarely missed a game or a milestone. She believes the lesson she passed on to her kids was simple.
“Be good people,” she said.
Walz knows exactly what she looks forward to most when her daughters come to visit.
“Just being with them and thinking they want me to be with them,” she said.
When her two youngest daughters planned a trip to Ireland, Walz was certain they would prefer to go without her. They convinced her otherwise and it became one of her most cherished memories.
“We had the best time ever,” she said.
That attitude, Walz will tell you, is her philosophy on life in a nutshell.
“We could all be complainers,” she said, “but who knows when we’re going to go. Might as well be happy until we do.”
And her daughters, with their costumes and their laughter, inherited that same joyful spirit.
“They amaze me,” Walz said.
