Janet E. Wineland

March 31, 1951 - June 1, 2025

Janet Wineland, beloved mother, sister, grandmother, friend, and teacher, passed away on June 1, 2025, at her home in Salem, Oregon. She is survived by her sister, Kathleen, her brother, Douglas, her daughters Shannon and Carrie, her son Edward, daughter-in-law Tamara, her three grandchildren Tyler, Sawyer, and Emerson, and former husband and friend Allen Wineland. Born Janet Eileen Suckow on March 31, 1951, to parents Blair and Frances Suckow, she was raised in Portland and graduated from Sunset High School. Janet attended Western Oregon State College (now Western Oregon University) where she majored in elementary education, minored in mathematics, and graduated with honors in 1974. Her first teaching experience was in Prineville, Oregon. Next, she and Allen moved to West Virginia where she taught at Belington Elementary School and Allen attended college. They relocated several times following Allen’s naval career to Florida, Washington, and Colorado, as well as over two years in Atsugi, Japan. They returned to Oregon in 1990, settling in Salem. After earning a Master of Arts in Education from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Janet dedicated her heart and career to teaching children with disabilities. During the years she spent at McKinley Elementary School she deeply impacted the lives of students and colleagues alike with her nurturing theory of education, sense of humor, compassion, and unending patience. Towards the end of her career, she made the difficult decision to leave her own classroom to become an autism consultant for the Salem Keizer School District, where she was able to share her knowledge with other educators. Janet never lost her wanderlust and in 2015 she walked 500 miles of the Camino de Santiago with a group of friends. She enjoyed it so much she did it again the following year by herself, making many friends along the way. In 2018 she fulfilled a dream she had since she was 14 years old to visit Machu Picchu. She traveled to Ireland in 2019, and in 2024 she went skydiving for the first time and took a break from chemotherapy to travel to France, Switzerland, and Italy. Janet found joy in hiking, kayaking, cross-country skiing, sewing, stained glass art, gardening, reading, and recycling absolutely everything she possibly could. She loved the beach and the mountains and spent many happy summers camping. A celebration of life will be held in March of 2026. For donations in Janet’s memory please consider Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), of which she was a long-standing member.