Janie Aylsworth was known to many as the “best teacher ever.” She served the Holt district as teacher for 40 years. She, her husband Chuck have avid supporters of the Holt Vocal Music Program since their daughter Elizabeth attended. Janie served as Holt Vocal Music Boosters President and worked tirelessly on behalf of the Holt choristers and program. The obituary tribute to her life is below. Thanks, Janie Aylsworth, the choir family will remember, and miss you.
Beloved wife, mother, and teacher, Jane “Janie” Aylsworth, age 63, passed away on Wednesday, November 23, 2016. Janie was born on June 11, 1953, in Detroit, Michigan, to Margaret and Marino “Gene” Scarpone and was the eldest of seven children. Growing up, Janie had an innate talent for teaching and dreamed of one day becoming an elementary school teacher. A voracious learner, Janie graduated summa cum laude from Hillsdale College and obtained her Master’s Degree from Michigan State University. Janie, known best as “Mrs. A.,” spent the past 40 years as a teacher in the Holt Public School system, spending the majority of her career teaching and nurturing first graders until her retirement in June 2016. An avid baker, Janie was renowned for her exquisite baked goods and sweet treats. Janie also loved to spend time gardening, reading, attending musicals, operas, and symphony concerts, and exuberantly supported her daughter Elizabeth in all of her creative endeavors. Janie married her soulmate Charles “Chuck” Aylsworth on August 13, 1976, and together they shared forty years of love, laughter, and joy. Janie was an inspiration to many with her unlimited passion and talent for teaching, her unwavering faith in God, and her incredible spiritual strength throughout her cancer journey—a true “earthly angel,” Sempre Coraggio.
Janie was preceded in death by her father, Gene. Surviving family members include her husband Chuck, daughter Elizabeth, her mother Margaret, her six brothers and sisters: Jim, Jeanne, John, Jerry, Joanne, and Janet, and her black lab Bella.
Visitation will be held from 3:00-5:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 27, at Estes-Leadley Holt/Delhi Chapel, located at 2121 N. Cedar Street in Holt, MI. A funeral service will be held on Monday, November 28, at 11:00 a.m. at River Terrace Church, located at 1509 River Terrace Drive in East Lansing, MI.
