Janice Brustad

Janice Brustad, age 86, of Yuma, Arizona, passed away on Thursday, February 9^th, at Yuma Regional Medical Center in Yuma. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 25^th, at Rodnes Lutheran Church, rural Erskine, with the Rev. Joel Smeby officiating. Interment will be in First English Cemetery, rural Mentor, in the spring. Visitation will be held for one hour prior to the service on Saturday (25^th) at the church. Arrangements are with Carlin Family Funeral Service of Erskine. Messages of condolence may be sent and live-stream of the funeral viewed at www.carlinfuneral.com.

Janice Reka Brustad (Babola) was born December 7, 1936, in New Bedford, Massachusetts, to Walter and Bertha Babola.

Janice met the love her of her life while at a dance with her older sister, Alice. Norman Brustad, of Mentor, MN, was stationed in Massachusetts with the U.S. Air Force at the same time his brother Leslie was stationed there with the U.S. Navy. The two Brustad brothers frequented the same dances as the Babola sisters, and Janice and Norman met and fell in love. Janice and Norman were married on April 4, 1959 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and were married for 59 years until Norman’s death in 2018.

Over the years, Janice and Norman traveled the world as he was assigned to different U.S. Air Force bases. When Norman retired from the Air Force, he and Janice operated a sports equipment and repair business in Anchorage, Alaska. There, they raced snowmobiles, and Janice became a beautician. They then settled in Yuma, Arizona, and spent many summers in Mentor, where they loved to stay at the Brustad farm and visit with family and friends. Janice especially enjoyed spending time with her nieces and nephews.

Janice is survived by Norman’s family--Kenneth (Juanita) Brustad, Grand Forks, North Dakota, Louann McGlynn, Mentor, Minnesota, June Brustad, Mentor, Minnesota, Sylvia (John) Jankila, Virginia, Minnesota, Marilyn (Will) Roy, Oak Park, Illinois, many nieces and nephews and many grand nieces and grand nephews.

Janice was preceded in death by her husband, Norman, her parents and her sister Alice.