Janet (Russ) Farmer, 81, passed away early on Tuesday morning, January 1, 2019 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Visitation is from 6:00pm to 8:00pm on Friday, January 4, 2019 at Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home located at 3800 N. Big Spring Street. The funeral service will be held at 1:00pm, Saturday, January 5, 2019 at the First Christian Church in Midland with the Rev. Mike Hunter officiating. Interment will follow at Resthaven Memorial Park.Janet was born July 30, 1937 to Helen and R.G. Russ Jr. in Wheeler, TX. She lived with her parents in the back of Russ Dry Goods store in Wheeler for a few years before they moved to a home not far from the store. She went to school in Wheeler and graduated at the top of her class at Wheeler High School in 1955.She married Glen E. Farmer, the only son of Ebb and Ida Farmer also of Wheeler on August 25th, 1955. They moved to Canyon, TX where they both attended West Texas State College. She worked in the Registrar’s office while attending class. She took time off from college to be Mom to her four sons when Glen graduated and took a job with Shell Oil in Midland, TX. She finished her Bachelor’s degree at West Texas State while working for a CPA in Midland. Janet then worked diligently to earn a Master’s degree from Texas Tech majoring in English while wrangling a very busy bunch of little boys.In 1965, the family moved briefly to Brownfield, TX and then to Lubbock before moving to Scottsbluff Nebraska in 1967. Janet taught English at Nebraska Western College for four years until the boys’ activities and schedules demanded most of her time.The family moved back to Canyon, TX in 1979 and then back to Midland in 1983 where she remained until 2012, a year after Glen’s death, when she moved to Arlington, TX to be close to her sons.Janet loved music her whole life. She started playing the piano when she was 5 and became a very accomplished pianist. She could play just about anything that was put in front of her. She also played the saxophone, accordion and a little guitar and ukulele. She taught piano and guitar lessons and enjoyed playing the piano at church.Janet was a fierce competitor in family games such as Trivial Pursuit, Balderdash, Apples 2 Apples, etc. She had an incredible amount of information in her head. “How did you know THAT?!” was a common, often used phrase during these games. No one can remember if she ever lost.She loved family and relished cooking for the seemingly ever-expanding family bunch. Her desserts were legendary. The annual Fourth of July family reunion (“The Bash”), in Midland at Janet and Glen’s home, often had serving lines of over 30 people and we never ran out of food. There were sometimes new people the rest of the family never knew but they got fed just the same. Everyone was family.Janet is survived by her three sons; David and wife Cathy of Garland, TX, Brian and wife Denise of Amarillo, TX and Kyle and wife Debra of Arlington, TX and daughter-in-law Kareen Farmer of Kemah, TX. She is also survived by ten grandchildren; Julie, Melissa, Russell, Jacque, Nathan, Nolan, Sarah, Rachel, Andrew and Lindsey, and 4 great grandchildren, Michael, Braydon, Owen and Emma.She was preceded in death by her husband of almost 55 years, Glen E. Farmer, her youngest son, Paul Farmer in 2014, brother, Philip Russ in 2017 and her parents Helen and R.G. Russ, Jr.Memorials may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association or the Salvation Army.Arrangements are under the direction of Nalley-Pickle & Welch Funeral Home & Crematory of Midland. Online condolences can be made at www.npwelch.com.,
