Jan McRee

Jan McRee of Eaton Rapids, entered life eternal peacefully on December 19, 2022, at the age of 91 in Eaton Rapids where she was a resident for the last 65 years. She was the loving wife of Edward B. McRee who preceded her in death. They were married for 64 years. Born Janice Bryant on September 30, 1931, in Liberal, Kansas. Jan was raised in Blackwell, Oklahoma, and graduated from Blackwell High School in 1949, where her mother was also her High School Music Teacher, and her choir director at their local Methodist Church. Jan attended Oklahoma City University (OCU) where she received a bachelor’s degree in Music and received numerous honors for both piano and vocal music. She was the president of her local sorority chapter of Gamma Phi Beta and she remained devoted to her High School, OCU, and her sorority until her death. Jan was a prominent figure within the Eaton Rapids Community serving as a private piano and vocal teacher, a choir director at the First United Methodist Church for over fifty years, the director of the Eaton Rapids Women’s Chorus for over twenty years and a local music teacher within the Eaton Rapids School system. She was the co-owner of the interior decorating business, “Partner’s Interiors” of Eaton Rapids and provided a weekly column in the Eaton Rapids “Flashes” called “Assets in our Community” which provided opportunities for students of all ages to “Strut Their Stuff.” She always sought to find the best in people and was enormously devoted to the goodness in people. Jan loved music, art and touched numerous lives through her teaching, Christian witness, and devotion to the Eaton Rapids Community. She was enormously proud of the trees planted along Main Street in Eaton Rapids which through her leadership were funded by the ER Women’s Chorus along with the Baldwin grand piano given to the Eaton Rapids High School. On the Wednesday preceding her death, she was observed singing all the words to all of the Christmas songs at the Island City Assisted Living Center’s weekly sing along. A wonderful ending to a life that for her, was always a beautiful song. Jan was a devoted Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, and friend who made lasting impressions upon her family and will be sorely missed.
Jan is also preceded in death by her parents, Harold Leroy and Maude Leah (Duffy) Bryant; brother, John Barth Bryant, and her son, Kent Edward McRee. She is survived by her two sons, Scott McRee of East Lansing, and Chad (Julie) McRee of Aledo, Texas; grandchildren, Micaela Elizabeth (Jake) McRee Massacci of Aledo, Texas, Meaghan Leah (Jacob) McRee Talley of Kernersville, NC; great grandchildren, Ava Massacci and AJ Massacci also of Aledo, Texas and Emmalynn Anne Talley of Kernersville, North Carolina.
Funeral services will be held in honor of Jan at the First United Methodist Church of Eaton Rapids Michigan on January 28, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. with interment following in Rosehill Cemetery, to be buried next to her loving husband, Ed and her son, Kent. Visitation will take place at the Mills Funeral Home, Shelly-Odell Chapel Friday from 6-8 p.m. and at the church Saturday from 10-11 a.m. Memorial contributions may be made to the First United Methodist Church, 600 S. Main St., Eaton Rapids, MI 48827. To leave condolences for the family please visit our website, www.millsfuneral.com.