Retired Art teacher Cheryl Jankura dies
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Cheryl A. Jankura, a retired Southington High School art teacher whose name for 23 years was synonymous with the school’s photography program, died this morning after a battle with cancer. She was 63 years old.-
Ms. Jankura (known affectionately by her students as “Miss J”) was a 36-year veteran of the Southington school system, teaching visual arts at the elementary level from 1969 until moving to SHS in 1982. She taught a variety of art courses through the years, including the art portion of the Theater Arts program and the photography classes that she transformed into one of the school’s most popular electives. She retired in 2005.
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Prior to her recent illness, a group of Ms. Jankura’s former students had been organizing the design of a perennial garden honoring her years at Southington High School.
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Details of funeral arrangements were unavailable as of Saturday afternoon.
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To share your memories of Ms. Jankura, please click on Comments below or visit our Facebook page (which can be accessed by clicking on the link in our Links sidebar).
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To share your memories of Ms. Jankura, please click on Comments below or visit our Facebook page (which can be accessed by clicking on the link in our Links sidebar).
5 comments:
I met Cheryl in the airport on our excursion to the Santa Barbara Photography teacher's workshop in the late 80's. We had been playing phone tag trying to set up as roommates from a list the workshop people gave us. Both of us keep calling the other at work and not realizing that but somehow we finally figured out the right numbers and we set up to be roomies. The workshop was mind blowing and we quickly became friends. Cheryl was like a big sister to me and at the workshop one night they had a buffet for us in a japanese restaurant. Cheryl was loving every biteful of food as true to her nature loved life. We all decided to try Saki and my group of 5 did not like the taste but Cheryl loved it. So when she wasn't looking, each one of us emptied our canter of Saki into hers. Good thing she wasn't the driver. Then they had free Karokee for us and CHeryl, in her Saki state, sang to Like a Virgin. Very memorable and a friendship begun.
In the fall of that year I drove up to CT to see the fall foliage with my dog Wing. Cheryl just lost her Sheepdog that year and enjoyed the comfort of a dog in the house. Easter break of 92, I had to put Wing down and Cheryl called me. She listened to my woes and held in for a long time that she had just gotten a rescue Old English, Maybelline. Maybelline became buddies with my Ben and Jerry and we then start traveling to summers at doggie camp for a few years.
Cheryl always fit in with whomever was around, she reminded me a lot of my Aunt Francie in a lot of ways. We traveled on a few cruises together, last one was Alaska and we were trying to go to the Nile last December but the pain was present and we couldn't. But I will go soon to the Nile and take Cheryl in spirit with me. Cheryl was a wonderful person and I am glad my family and friends got to know her. She was a very special lady.
Beth and the Hedgerow Kids
Lucy, MACH2 Desi, MACH Steel, Chance
Cheryl and I met through our mutual friend, Gail, in 1973.
Throughout the last 38 years we shared many happy times and supported each other through the not so happy times. Cheryl's unique ability to connect with whomever she encountered, I think, was her greatest gift. I especially remember a trip we took together, with my mother who loved Cheryl like another daughter. We went to Lisbon, Portugal and visited with family and traveled the entire country. Although Cheryl did not speak the language, she was always able to communicate and find something in common with everyone she met. Our family will miss her. My life will not be the same without her, but I trust she is in the great garden digging around and helping someone on the other side.
Celeste
I taught at SHS with Cheryl for many, many years. We first met when we were Class Advisors to the Class of 1983, fertile ground for the seeds of a lasting friendship. My heart is full...my heart is full. The grief at her passing is balanced with the eternal memories of a treasured friendship. How fortunate I was to have shared those special times with her and the Class of 1983.
Go easy, dear friend, and walk with Angels.
Miss Jankura inspired me to a great degree as a young child at Thalberg School in the late 60s early 70s.
I was lucky enough to have her as an art teacher during her first years as a teacher.
At 8 years old, I used to stay after school to help clean brushes and basically hang out with her. She was a great listener and had the rare quality of making a shy child feel like his ideas were important and mattered.
I got involved in many extra curricular art activities such as making backdrops for school plays under her supervision.
I've always wanted to track her down and tell her what an inspiration she was to me, and what an incredible difference her attention and caring made in my life.
Hearing of her passing moved me a great deal, and I am so sorry I'll never be able to pass on that message to her.
I pass this message on to you who may be reading this, and urge you to reach out to those who made a difference in your life, to tell them so.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart Miss Jankura.
With deepest and Heartfelt sympathies to her family and friends,
Bill Lachapelle
the following article is about our son, Michael Stewart, a former student of Mrs. J...she inspired him and this is what he thought of her...
SOUTHINGTON — When Southington High School grad Mike Stewart decided to open his own art academy in South Korea, where he has been living since 2003, he held a contest to find the perfect name for the place.
The winning idea came from his friend Paul Rembish, who suggested naming it after their former SHS art teacher Cheryl Ann Jankura.
“My honest opinion would be to somehow pay homage to ‘Miss J’ ... how cool would that be to spread her teaching legacy to another continent? It’s not often we get to honor our mentors,” Rembish wrote.
And so Jankura Artspace was born.
A University of Hartford graduate, Stewart said he originally went to South Korea to teach English.
“I had always been fascinated with Asian culture, so it was a great chance to pay off some student loans while immersing myself in a world of inspiration,” he said in an e-mail.
He began to concentrate more on teaching art instead and now teaches at Myeongdong Gallery and the Big Green Studio in Seoul.
“I had originally planned to stay in Korea for 12 months. Eight and a half years later, I can’t say I see returning home anytime soon (much to my mother’s dismay). I like it too much here and have had so many great opportunities due to my status as a ‘foreign artist,’” he said.
Stewart envisions Jankura Artspace as a place that offers classes and workshops for all artistic and English-speaking levels, and rents out studio space. He reminisced about his old teacher who became the namesake for his new school.
A Southington resident, Jankura taught art in town for 35 years, first at the elementary level starting in 1969, then moving to Southington High School in 1982. She retired in 2005 and died of cancer in March at age 63.
In her long career in the Southington school system, and even after retirement, “she was able to impact the lives of thousands of students with warmth, honesty and laughter,” Stewart said.
“It was in her portfolio prep class and after-school art club that I learned about how art can take time and that sometimes one must be patient to create,” he said. “Before her classes I was happy drawing comic book images of vampires and skulls on all my school notebooks. She taught me to produce artworks and inspired us all to work from our hearts.”
He said he hopes her legacy “will spread far across the earth through the lessons learned and experiences gained at this little creative studio in the heart of Seoul.”
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