Janet McMahon Obituary

Janet (Hawthorne) McMahon
Born: March 23, 1942 in Morrison, IL
Died: March 6, 2025 in Lombard, IL
Janet Kay (Hawthorne) McMahon, born on March 23, 1942, in Morrison, Illinois, passed away on March 6, 2025, in Lombard, Illinois. She is survived by her sister, Lawrene "Sam" Hawthorne of Lombard, Illinois, as well as her three children, their spouses and four grandchildren: TJ and Joyce McMahon of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Kara McMahon of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and Erin McMahon and Dusty Bender of Durango, Colorado. Her dear grandchildren are McKinley Mueller (26), John McMahon (24), Kendall Mueller (23) and Patrick McMahon (22).
Jan graduated from Morrison High School in 1960 and from Northern Illinois University in 1964. She was always a star student and loved spending time with friends. Her high school and college friends remained her very dear friends to her for the rest of her life. After college, Jan taught 5th grade at Nancy Hill Elementary in Aurora, Illinois and at Lisle Elementary in Lisle, Illinois. After TJ was born, the family moved to LaGrange Park, Illinois, where she raised her three kids. She was very involved with the LaGrange Junior Women's Club and was an avid volunteer for her kids' school and extracurricular activities, such as "Room Mom" at Brook Park Elementary and Girl Scout leader.
She joined a group of ladies who played bunco once a month and these women became her lifelong friends, affectionately known as the "Bunco Babes." She also loved gardening, sewing and was always busy with some kind of craft project. When her kids were older, Janet returned to her passion for education and became a part time library aide at Seventh Avenue School in LaGrange Park, a job she loved for 21 years (1990-2011). As always, Jan made friends at 7th Ave School that have been dear to her ever since. She loved spending time with her grandsons, who grew up in nearby Glen Ellyn, getting together, along with her sister, for regular weekly dinners and games of Skip-Bo, dominoes and Rack-O. In the summers, she enjoyed traveling to Colorado to spend time with her daughters and granddaughters.
Janet moved to Indian Head Park in 2001, where she lived for almost twenty years and created more close friendships. She was actively involved with the LaGrange chapter of PEO, and she also used her incredible sewing skills to make beautiful dresses for girls in need, through the non profit organization, Little Dresses for Africa. She moved to Beacon Hill in Lombard in 2020, reuniting with an old friend and neighbor from LaGrange Park and, again, made new, dear friends.
Janet will be remembered by the many, many people who loved her as the funny, smart, talented, huge-hearted woman she was. Her grandchildren would argue that she was THE BEST NeeNee/Grammy that a kid could ever have.
The family will be planning a Celebration of Life in late spring. Details to follow at a later date. If you would like to make a donation in Janet's memory, some of her favorite organizations were Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (now Breakthrough T1D) https://www.breakthrought1d.org/, Durango Animal Connection https://www.durangoanimalconnection.com/, and Little Dresses for Africa https://littledressesforafrica.org/