Janine Konauka Reklaitis

Janine Konauka Reklaitis (12/27/1942 – 2/24/2026)

Janine (née Konauka) Reklaitis passed peacefully on February 24, 2026, at the Franciscan

Health hospital in Lafayette, Indiana, and assumed her eternal place in Heaven.

Janine was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, and emigrated to the United States with her family as

a child following the Second World War. Her parents, Bronius and Otilija Konauka,

established a family home within the Lithuanian émigré community in the Marquette Park

neighborhood of Chicago. She attended Maria High School and graduated with a bachelor’s

degree in Latin from Loyola University of Chicago. While living in Chicago she met Gintaras

(Rex) Reklaitis, who would become her husband of nearly 60 years. The two were married

on August 20, 1966, at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Chicago.

Janine and Rex both relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue advanced degrees.

Janine earned a master’s degree in classics from the University of California, Berkeley, in

1966, and a doctorate in linguistics from Stanford University in 1972.

She taught as a professor of linguistics at the University of Illinois Chicago from 1972 to

1979 and as a visiting professor at Vilnius University in Lithuania in 1980. She then

completed a master’s in counseling at Purdue University in 1989 and worked at Purdue for 18 years,

from 1989 to 2008, serving as associate director of the Women in Engineering Program at

Purdue and in other roles.

This second act of her academic career gave Janine particular joy and fulfillment,

mentoring young women as they navigated a heavily male-dominated field. She maintained

close contact and friendships with many of her mentees long after her retirement and

spoke fondly of her role and the relationships she formed.

Janine and Rex and their two sons George and Victor enjoyed skiing and hiking in the

Rockies, sailing on Lake Michigan, and traveling through Europe and beyond. Janine was an

active parishioner at the Church of Blessed Sacrament in West Lafayette and also was

active at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church on Purdue’s campus. She was a member of

the board of directors and a principal coordinator of Schoenstatt of Indiana Inc., which

established a wayside shrine to the Blessed Mother in Delphi, Indiana.

In addition to her husband, Rex, and her sons George and Victor, Janine is survived by her

daughters-in-law Christina and Christine; her grandchildren Blaire, Luke, John, Georgiana

and Patrick; her brother, Walter R. Konauka, and his wife, Louise, along with their children

and grandchildren; her sister, Jovita Dalia Juskevicius, and her sister’s husband, Vytas; and

her sister-in-law, Daina Plausinaitis Smith; and many beloved relatives and cherished

friends. It feels impossible to put into words how much she meant to everyone.

Visitation hours are planned from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 6, at the Soller-Baker

Funeral Homes and Crematory at 1184 Sagamore Parkway West in West Lafayette.

A Funeral Mass is planned for 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 7, at the Church of the

Blessed Sacrament at 2224 Sacramento Ave. in West Lafayette.

A chapel service and burial are planned for 1 p.m. Central (2 p.m. Eastern) on Saturday, March 7, at St. Casimir Catholic Cemetery at 4401 W. 111th St. in Chicago.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Schoenstatt of Indiana Inc. (P.O. Box 145

Delphi, IN, 46923, or www.schoenstattindiana.org)