Janice Bright
1937-2024
On Monday, June 24th, Janice Bright (nee Watson), of Winchester, Va., passed peacefully at the age of 87, surrounded by her loving family.
Jan is survived by her husband, Harold, her children, Deborah, Leslie, and Christopher and their spouses and five grandchildren.
Jan was born in San Diego, CA, on June 8th, 1937, to Charlotte (Garrettson) and Paul Robert Watson, Jr.
Her younger brother, Robert, preceded her in death in 2022.
A graduate of Grant Union High School in Sacramento, CA, Jan represented her school in 1954’s National Science Fair with her project, “An Experiment in Chemical Gardening: Continuous Flow By Means of Capillary Action,” before attending the University of California at Davis, where she majored in microbiology. It was there that she met and married Ph.D. candidate Harold J. Bright, of Salisbury, England, They moved to Philadelphia in 1962, where they lived for almost 30 years and raised their three children. After living in Arlington, Va., for a short period of time, they built a splendid home on a mountaintop in Largent, W.Va., which they enjoyed for almost another 30 years. Jan stained, by hand, every cedar plank that went into the construction of this home. At the time of Jan’s passing, she and Harold were residents of The Village at Orchard Ridge, in Winchester, Va.
During their time in West Philadelphia, the Brights were stalwart members of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, in Hamilton Village. Harold served as Rector’s Warden and Deborah, Leslie, and Chris credit their St. Mary’s upbringing with an education in social justice, compassion, and an appreciation for diversity and intellectual ambition, as well as meaningful faith. But Jan was an integral part of everything at St. Mary’s: the choir, where she was the anchor of the alto section; the altar guild, where she supplied every service with clean and freshly ironed linens; and the parish hall, where she helped keep everyone cookied and coffeed.
Jan’s creative hands were always busy. When her children were young, she crafted matching outfits for them on her trusty sewing machine, layering the dining room table with tissue paper patterns and straight pins. Once the children were grown, her attention turned to bridesmaids’ dresses and headpieces. Like her mother before her, she knitted and crocheted numerous afghans and pillows that still grace family couches and keep the family warm on chilly days. But Jan’s greatest artistic expression blossomed in the second half of her life when she took up counted cross stitch in earnest. It’s hard to imagine how many millions of times she passed a threaded needle through fabric. The many gorgeous products of her patience and precision surround the family and offer comfort and fond memories during their time of grief.
Jan’s was a kind spirit, with a sharp intellect and curiosity about so many things, from “Ubi Caritas” to A Ceremony of Carols. Her faithfulness to peace, music, and love was evident in everything she did and said. Above all, she fully lived her Christian faith as an infinitely generous soul, steadfast and industrious, unassuming to a fault, and always ready to greet a stranger or a friend with a smile.
A celebration of Jan’s life will be held in the Chapel at The Village at Orchard Ridge at 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 12th, 2024.
Donations in her name may be made to Blue Ridge Hospice, 333 W. Cork Street, Unit 405, Winchester, VA, 22601. 540-313-9200.
