Janet Lee Crank

Janet Lee (Hinds) Crank passed away April 22, 2023 at 93 years young in Niceville, Florida. She was born March 23, 1930 in Springfield, Illinois.

What an amazing Mother, Sister, Aunt, and Friend! She was so quick-witted to the very end with the nurses & doctors at Twin Cities Hospital.

Janet’s parents, Buddy & Helene (Salzenstein) Hinds, were from Edina, Missouri, where Janet graduated high school in 1948. She married Bud (Albert Burton) Crank, had three children, and moved to Quincy, Illinois, where she began her Chamber of Commerce career. She graduated from Michigan State University Institute for Organization Management. In 1974, she became an Executive Director in Brighton, and the first woman in the state of Michigan to be named to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce Executive Board of Directors.

In 1977, Janet accepted the Executive Director Chamber of Commerce job in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Her performance guided them out of maps & parades to a meaningful progress of businesses in the community where her business partners and the Board rewarded her by nominating her for National Chamber of Commerce Executive of the Year in 1987. She retired in 1988, and eventually moved to Florida in 2014.

Janet was a member of Rocky Bayou Country Club and joined the Bridge Club, where she immediately made close friends and kept them all in laughter with her enormous sense of humor.

Janet’s legacy was not just her career, but her never-ending devotion and generosity to her family and friends. If she made a dollar, she gave away a dollar and a quarter!  She will be DEEPLY missed by her daughter Sandee Sundeen and son-in-law John Radgowski of Niceville, Florida; daughter Linda Kirschner of Keller, Texas; son Skip (Alan) Crank and daughter-in-law Brenda Lange of Crestview, Florida; sister Ann (Hinds) Barker and brother-in-law Jack of Wilmington, North Carolina; brother Dr. David Hinds and sister-in-law Tina Lou of Columbia, Missouri; grandsons Ace, Blaze, Christopher, and Cody, plus many nieces & nephews. One nephew, Little Dave, says his memory of Aunt Janet (“AJ”) will be full of laughter, stories, wit, sarcasm, and many great moments where she had special relationships with everyone!

A graveside memorial will be held in the near future in Springfield, Illinois where she will be buried right next to her Mom & Dad.

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