Janeen Burkholder, 57, of Springfield, formerly of Clinton, passed away peacefully at Lewis Memorial Christian Village in Springfield on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.
Janeen was born on May 2, 1954, the daughter of Barbara (Doyle) and John Burkholder.
Survivors include her children Tara Crowley and Colin Crowley, both of Springfield; the love of her life, John Selmet, of Springfield; brother John (Andi) Burkholder of Clinton; two nephews and four nieces.
Her parents and brother Gary Burkholder preceded her in death.
Janeen moved to Clinton from San Bernadino, California with her parents in the 1960s. Her parents Barbara and John Burkholder owned Burkholder’s Pastry Shop on West Washington Street, in Clinton.
Janeen graduated in 1972 from Clinton High School and was editor of the student newspaper the Margol her junior and senior years
After finishing high school, she briefly attended Parkland Community College. She worked at Murray’s Shoes on the Square in Clinton and then later worked at Eureka Company in Bloomington.
She graduated from ISU with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and later taught journalism at ISU. She also worked on the college newspaper the Daily Vidette, where she served as an editor
Janeen later received her master’s degree from Sangamon State University, now known as the University of Illinois at Springfield.
She worked at various news papers over her 36-plus-year career in journalism including The DeWitt County Observer, The Pantagraph, The DeMoines Register, The Peoria Journal-Star, Illinois Times, The Clinton Journal and The Lincoln Courier.
Janeen’s first newspaper job was with the Clinton Daily Journal in the late 1970s. Janeen returned to The Clinton Journal after a brief absence from journalism and worked as a reporter for the newspaper from 2007 to 2010, winning nine Illinois Press Association awards for the publication.
Janeen was the founder of CAART – Clinton Area Arts Resource Team and established the Under the Prairie Stars summer concert series in Clinton.
She loved newspaper work, blues music, National Public Radio, public television, reading and was an avid quilter. She once served as volunteer editor of the Springfield Blues magazine.
A celebration of her life will be held at Robbies’, in Springfield, at a later date.
Letters of condolences may be sent to The Clinton Journal P.O. Box 615, 111 S. Monroe, Clinton, IL 61727.
