Janet Glatz Rush

Date of Death: June 14, 2010

Janet (Glatz) Rush, labeled a “Lafayette classic” for the past 87 years whose love for her family and passion for her causes inspired others, died peacefully in her sleep at University Place on Monday.
Described as gracious and tenacious, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University School of Science in 1943 in just three years after graduating from Jefferson High School. Prior to that, she graduated from her beloved Highland Grade School. Born in 1922 to local candy-makers Levi (Lee) and Flora Glatz, who founded Glatz Confectionery in 1912 (now McCord Candies in downtown Lafayette). Janet lost her father when she was six. Her mother continued to operate the business alone while raising Janet and her twin brother Jimmy. Jimmy died suddenly of a heart attack in 1959 at the age of 37, and her mother Flora passed in 1965. Janet lost three other siblings while they were in their childhood; two sisters (Phyllis and Marian) and one brother (Gordon).
She married James G. Rush (Jim) at St. Mary&s Cathedral in Lafayette in 1943. After Jim returned from World War II, they raised four children. Jim died in February of 2009.
She devoted herself to her family and her causes. At Purdue she was a proud member of the Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority, receiving the “Theta of the Year” award in 1991-92. She was Vice President of the Purdue class of 1943, a member of the President&s Council as well as the John Purdue Club, and the Recording Secretary for the Purdue Alumni Association. She personally attended Purdue athletic contests too numerous to count, both home and away, for 70-plus years, including watching her husband-to-be compete in intercollegiate football and baseball at Purdue.
A convert to Catholicism after her marriage to Jim, she was a member of Saint Mary&s Parish, served on its Parish Council and chaired its Ecumenical Council, served as President of the Ladies Guild of Central Catholic as well as President of the Mother&s Club at St. Mary&s Grade School. She was a member of the Lay Advisory Board to St. Elizabeth Hospital, President and Chairman of the St. Elizabeth Hospital Auxiliary Board and its largest fundraiser “Park-O-Rama” for two consecutive years. She received the “Elizabethan Award” in 1989 from Saint Elizabeth&s Hospital for outstanding lifetime service. She was a member of the Catholic Women&s Study Club, Thursday Club and Social Services.
She enjoyed bridge, golf, movies and cheering on her Boilermakers. She traveled extensively including internationally. Not one to fade away, she died while planning a trip to her beloved Chicago.
She is survived by all four of her children and sixteen grandchildren. Her daughter Elaine Haehl (husband: William) lives in Shelbyville, Indiana and has five children: Laura, Annie, Audrey and twins Gwen and Gretchen. Daughter Teresa “Teesa” Eckman (husband: William) lives in Lafayette and has two children: Julie and John. Son James (wife: Loretta Hogan) lives in Lafayette with their four children: Jacob, Mary, Sarah and Luke. Son Peter (wife: Kathleen Kucaba) lives in Hinsdale, Illinois with their five children: Danielle, Nicholas, Christine, Gabrielle and Matthew.
Friends may call from 4-7 p.m. Thursday at Soller-Baker Lafayette Chapel, 400 Twyckenham Blvd., with Rosary service at 4 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial 1 p.m. Friday at St. Mary Cathedral, Fr. Daniel Gartland officiating. Interment at St. Mary Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please contribute to St. Mary&s School and the American Heart Association.

Soller-Baker Funeral Homes, Inc.

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Teesa

Please accept my heartfelt sympathy on the passing of your mother. My thoughts are with you and your family.

To all the members of Janet&s family but especially to Elaine, I send my deepest sympathy. Janet was a very accomplished woman and liked to get things done. I remember her commitment to the Theta chapter as well as her love of all things Purdue. I loved reading her background and know that she will be greatly missed in the community. What a wonderful lady with high ideals and a willingness to perservere in all things! Sincerely, Kay Loop Locher (Dayton, OH)

I am truly sorry to hear about your loss. Janet Rush was an amazing woman and a real role model to other women. Lafayette was better because of her; and your loss is shared by the many, many people your mom (and grandmother) touched.

Your Mom&s smile, sense of fun and infectious capacity to ""get up and do something"" is a true gift. I will miss her smiling face and remember her often.

I will keep her and your family in my prayers.....

Judy

Lafayette and St. Mary&s have truly lost a wonderful woman and friend. What a consumate Lady. She always had a smile on her face and a kind word. God bless and keep you, Janet, in the palm of His hand. May you, Elaine, Teesa, Jim and Peter know that you are in our thoughts and prayers and we are sure that your mom is in heaven with Jim. I&m sure he greeted her with a song!

Love,

Jim and Eileen

Peace of mind is a call away. We’re here when you need us most.

I am very sorry to hear of your loss. My thoughts and prayers are with your family. Mrs. Rush was always so happy every time I saw her. I have fond memories of her.
Sincerely,
Bridget (Mullen) Fogel

We were very sorry to hear about Janet&s death. There are many good memories
of your family for us and our family. We just wanted to let you know that all of us
are thinking of you and offer our deepest sympathy. Sincerely, Jane and John Noth

Bill and Teesa,

Donna and I are sadden by your loss. She may be gone, but her memory and the good deeds she has done in this world will live on in you and your children. We are so glad that we still have Donna&s mother with us.

We can not make it over to Lafayette for Thursday or Friday, we are taking Donna&s mother to Fort Wayne to see her sister.

We wanted you to know you and your families are in our thoughts and prayers.

Regards,

David and Donna Gregory

I would like to express my sympathy to my lifelong friend Jim and his family.I spent a lot of my youth at the house on Birch Lane, and was delighted to speak with Janet at a get together there last July.The obituaries chronicle a long full life, and I&m sure she and Jim senior are up there, with my mom,looking over us and rooting for the Boilermakers! God bless. Tom

Dear family -

I wish I could be there with you to mourn Grammi; however, I know that I am in Spain right now because of her. After all, it was she and Pappap who took me out of the country and to a Spanish-speaking one for the first time in my life. No weekend since then has changed my life so much. What sponges Julie, Annie and I were that weekend! Close your eyes for a minute and imagine carting three teen and pre-teen kids off to MEXICO CITY. While things may have gotten worse there since then, it was still an enormous city of 17 million. Grammi and Pappap made sure we saw everything one could possibly see in four days. We saw the Anthropology Museum, a bullfight, the central plaza, the Ballet Folklorico, a Mexican heritage show, Chapultapec Park and the pyramids of Teotihuacan. We even went on a boat ride in the lakes of Xochimilco and saw where Julio Iglesias lived. She wrote down every last detail of everything we did but I don&t think I need her list because I remember everything vividly.

I also remember Grammi&s unflappable search for gold during that trip. I can hear Pappap&s response every time we stopped in a bank to ask about the gold coins -""Jesus, Janet"". During that trip, she also taught us to make sure we were buying real silver by looking for the stamp. She also came to Guanajuato, Mexico with mom, Grandma Haehl and Annie to visit me while I was studying abroad. Somehow, we managed to hunt for silver there as well!! I am fairly certain we bought silver necklaces for all of the grandchildren at the stores near my school. And so now, here I am, in Spain. When I heard the news about Grammi&s death, I wasn&t that surprised. Sad? Very. But not surprised. To me, she seemed at peace with her life and ready be reunited with Pappap.

Before I left for Spain, mom mentioned that Grammi had assigned her the task of finding something to hang on her door at University Place while mom, dad and Annie visited Spain and France with me at the end of my trip. I said I would love to work on that while I am living in Spain instead. It will give me something to obsessively shop for (gee, I wonder where that trait came from).

Grammi sent me birthday money back in March which I spent on new kitchen faucet. I sent her a thank you letter telling her this. A week or two later, I received a second $100 and a note. Essentially, it said that the kitchen sink was a boring choice and that I should spend this money on something in Spain. She called a couple of days later to confirm that the second set of money was for Spain, not sinks. That was the last time I spoke with her. I told this story to a friend after learning about Grammi&s death and that friend said, ""well, now you will have to buy something quite memorable with that money."" I think I will buy something to hang on my door.

All my love,
Laura

Elaine, Teesa, Jim and Peter,

So sorry to hear of your mother&s passing. She was truly a shining star in the Lafayette, St. Mary&s, Central Catholic and Purdue communities and a person that all of us could admire.

She lived a long, happy and fulfilling life and was a true friend to so many people.

Jim, I am so happy that I had a chance to see her last summer at the party you hosted at your home. It was always a good day when you saw the smiling face of Mrs. Rush.

May God bless Janet Rush and all the wonderful family members who shared her life with her.

Tim Clodjeaux

P.S. Don&t worry. Mary Clodjeaux is among the many folks upstairs organizing the ""Welcome to Heaven"" party for your mom!

I went to school with Pete and Jim Rush and Loretta and I cross paths from time to time in the juvenile court so I am very familiar with your family. I work for the YWCA domestic violence program and Jim and Loretta contributed greatly to our many causes but it wasn&t until a few years back that your mother came into our facility with some donations. She didn&t have to tell me who she was because she had not changed very much from the woman I remembered from my days at Central Catholic. We chatted a bit and I told her I remembered her and told her that I was always a little envious of Pete to be lucky enough to have a mom like her. I told her I remembered how much she would laugh when she was volunteering in our cafeteria and how she seemed to have so much energy and enthusiasm for life and everyone around her. I don&t remember her as anything but smiling and friendly. I told her I remembered her being out there volunteering a lot and for someone like me, who also came from a big family, but whose mother worked full time, your family was very lucky to have her. She laughed when I told her this and said that she often thought you (her children) felt she was a pest and maybe didn&t like her being so actively around but she also seemed to like that someone else knew her then and realized that she loved being so much a part of your lives. A few years back my oldest brother, Mark, died of melanoma and I remember reading the postings from the funeral home and how good it felt to read how my brother touched people&s lives. I am sure there were few that Janet came in contact who were not impacted by her infectious and kind spirit. I was so happy to read that she lived for 87 years. I am sure those years were full of much joy.

Janet will truly be missed. It was such a joy to have her and Jim in our St. Mary&s Small Community Renew group when we began years ago. They were such fun to get to know. Know that she will be remembered fondly by many and that you are all in our thoughts and prayers.

To the Family of Mrs. Rush,

It&s been years simce I have seen either Mr. and Mrs. Rush. They will always be remembered in my heart for the love and help they were to my mother and all of the Wolfe children during some very difficult times for my family when I was a child. This kinder spirit was an example for me and is one that I have tried to continue through my life.

Now that she has joined Mr. Rush in God&s hand I join all of the Rush children and their families as well as the endless number of friends in celabrating the gift she gave us all.

Love,

Donald J. Wolfe, Jr. and Family

Please accept our deepest condolences for your family's loss.