Janet B. Baxter

            Janet “Gma” Bernadine Baxter of Ellicott City, Maryland passed away on Monday April 26, 2021 in Columbia, Maryland. Janet was born on January 14, 1931 in South Amboy, New Jersey, daughter of Milton Bowie and Gazelle Sherman. She was married to Walter Baxter, spending 54 wonderful years together.

            Janet graduated from South River High School in South River, New Jersey in 1948, and from the Middlesex General Hospital Nursing School in New Brunswick, New Jersey in 1950. She and Walt married on August 19, 1950 and began raising their family in Bound Brook, New Jersey. In 1963 Janet and Walt and their three children, Barbara, Michael, and Peter, moved to Ellicott City, Maryland. Contrary to some of her peers at the time, Janet worked full time while raising her children, first as a registered nurse at the Howard County Health Department and later in several physicians’ offices. With Walt’s heavy work travel, Janet juggled family and work without missing a beat. She retired from nursing in 1992 and was often seen tooling around Ellicott City in her turquoise two-seater sports car, bearing the license plates “Likin Life”. Retirement also allowed her to rediscover her creative side, with her watercolor paintings becoming regular winners at the Howard County Annual Fair.   She and Walt always loved the beach, wintering in Siesta Key, Florida, and taking their annual summer sojourn to Ocean City, Maryland.

Janet is survived by her three children, Barbara Ek and husband Mike of Ellicott City, Michael Baxter and wife Mary of Baltimore, and Peter Baxter and wife Belinda of Frederick, Maryland; five grandchildren, Chris Ek of Washington, D.C., Nicole Baxter of Baltimore, Allison Baxter of New York City, Jordan Baxter, of Frederick and Paige Baxter of Frederick; and one brother, Richard Bowie and wife Grace of Spotswood, New Jersey. In addition to her parents Janet was preceded in death by her husband, Walter.

            Services were private for the family. In lieu of flowers, donations to the Alzheimer’s Association are requested. 

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