TORRINGTON – Funeral services for H. Janese “Jan” McCaslin, 86, will be held at 10:30 a.m. May 30, 2019, at Eastgate Baptist Church with Pastor Tim Sparks officiating. Interment will be at Rose Hill Cemetery in Callaway, Nebraska at 11 a.m. Friday, May 31, 2019.
Memorials may be given to the Eastgate Baptist Church Paving Fund. Visitation will be at the funeral home May 29, from 3 - 5 p.m. and the casket will be open prior to the service at the church.
Jan died May 23, 2019, at Goshen Healthcare Community.
Jan was born to Leo and Eva (Cudaback) Baker on April 20, 1933 south of Callaway, Neb. She was raised on the family farm on Hanson Table, attending Happy Hollow School. Later, she attended high school in Callaway where she met Erma Rae Cool. The two friends lived with Mrs. Wright in Callaway during the week and remained the closest of friends for the next seventy years. While she always claimed that she, “couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket,” she also frequently confessed that as a young girl she dreamed of singing opera.
Jan was living in Broken Bow, working at the Arrow Hotel when she met a tall, fun-loving local just returned from the service. She married Gage McCaslin on April 11, 1954 and they shared their lives for the next fifty-four years. She did all the things a young wife and mother of the time would typically do and a bit more; and maybe a bit better than average. She was an accomplished seamstress, sewing for family and friends, and even learned sewing machine repair.
Jan and Gage bought an old house in Broken Bow, moved it to a different city lot to place it on top of a newly poured basement, and proceeded to revamp the upstairs and finish the basement. They even added an attached garage. Jan worked outside the home often waiting tables, a holdover from her years as a single girl, and when Gage found himself with two trucks and in need of a driver; she hauled livestock, grain, feed, and fertilizer with the same confidence she wielded her Singer sewing machine. She had a creative bent and loved coming up with things to make or do. Whether it was finding a way to repurpose old fabric, paint a landscape, repaint furniture, or plan some new celebration or party that nobody had thought of doing previously.
Jan and Gage converted a coach-style bus to a motor home they fondly called “The Old Blue Goose,” doing most of the work themselves. After living in various places in Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming and Nevada, they settled in Torrington in 1991, where they managed a mobile home park for Gage’s brother. Bitten by the remodeling bug, they bought and remodeled several mobile homes. When life slowed a little, they spent a few winters avoiding Wyoming’s cold.
Jan was a loving, loyal and sincere friend, but if you ended a visit with her, not knowing what she thought, you weren’t paying attention. She was forthright and plain spoken, but for all that, quite sensitive. She was a member of Eastgate Baptist Church where she was loved like family. Her faith was very important to her and she was confident of spending eternity in Heaven with her Savior.
Jan was preceded in death by her parents; an infant brother Derald; a sister Audrey Kugler; and her husband Gage. She is survived by her daughter Vicki (Wayne) Lawson of Cheyenne; sons Rick (Judy) of North Platte, Neb., Mick (Janell) of Murry, Utah and Nick (Carol) of Lafayette, Tenn.; sisters Sandy Fox and Charlotte Hartman; nine grandchildren; nine great grandchildren; and three great-great grandchildren.
Arrangements are by the Colyer Funeral Home and condolences may be sent to www.colyerfuneralhome.com
