Janice Gee Rush

Janice Gee Rush, longtime resident of Hawthorne, California has died at the age of 92. She passed away at the home of her daughter, Susie, in Crestwood, Kentucky,where she had been living since 2020. Janice was born to Virgil and Stella (Dasenbrock) Gee in Leigh, Nebraska in 1931. She moved with her parents, sister Marilyn (Gee)Koerner and brother Chuck Gee to California in early 1941 and has lived in Hawthorne most of her life.  She graduated from Leuzinger High School in 1948 (Olympian Girl) and went on to attend UCLA for three years, playingclarinet in the band.  She then took a break from college to marry and have children. She returned to UCLA and completed her teaching degree there in 1969. A lifelong learner, Jan took many college courses over the years, earning her MBA at the age of sixty. Jan retired as finance director for the City of Lawndale and was an enrolled tax agent, volunteering for many years preparing income taxes for seniors.

Jan married Sheldon Rush in 1951 and they had three daughters, Anna, Leslie and Susie.  The family moved to Bodger Park in Hawthorne in 1966 and Jan lived there until 2020. Sheldon passed away in 1969 at the age of 43, and Jan continued on to raise the girls by herself from the age of 38. She did so with an amazing strength and love that was admired by all who knew her.  She was fiercely independent, intelligent, practical and frugal, dependable and generous to others.  Easy to get along with and compassionate, yet firm when she needed to be.  She had a great sense of humor and loved to laugh. She loved spending time with family and friends and working in the garden, doing crossword and sudoku​ puzzles, and reading.  She enjoyed traveling, including trips to see her foreign exchange daughter Mireille, and visiting with family members throughout the US.

Jan was preceded in death by her parents, husband, sister, daughter Anna, and one son-in-law.  She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, one brother-in-law, daughters Leslie Caulfield and Susan Michal (husband Joe), four grandchildren, two step-grandchildren, one great-grandchild, three step-great-grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and other extended family members.

She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.

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