Janet E. Kearns

Janet “Helen” Ellen (True) Kearns took her final breath on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 6:20 p.m. at Wood County Hospital, with her daughter by her side for that last breath.

Born July 18,1957 in Louisville Kentucky, she was immediately adopted by Harris and Marjorie (Wheeler) True. The doctor who delivered her was none other than her own mother’s father, Owen Mason Wheeler.

She grew up as an only child to a retired pilot of the United States Air Force and General Electric. Her entire childhood revolved around airplanes. In fact, her father named her so that her initials spelled out JET. She was extremely loved by parents who unfortunately were not able to conceive and carry their own child.

She was always the life of the party, just waiting for the next opportunity to plant a great laugh or joke.

Her parents traveled a lot, but her absolute favorite place in the whole world was Paris, France. She did move around early on in her childhood, but she spent most of her childhood in Cincinnati, where she graduated from Sycamore High School in 1975.

She attended Findlay College (as they called it back then), where she met her first husband, Roger Dale Funk (McComb), and father of her only child, Katie Ellen Funk (Val Parr) born January 12,1983.

Though they had some good times, it just wasn’t in the cards for those two. Shortly after they split, she met her second husband Ramon “Wayne” Kearns (Kenton). Though she moved on from the Funk family, she never really left. She was always a part of that family. After she and Wayne split in 1996, she moved on but never remarried. During this time, she worked days and went to school at night to finish up her marketing degree at Lima Technical College (as it was called at that time).

In 1997, she met a wonderful man, Doug Bailey (Dunkirk). They were together for a few years, but his family remains as family to this day.

Sometime in the year 2000, she had been a manager at Claire’s in the Findlay Mall. Her coworkers at the time were like family and one of them was even responsible for her nickname, Helen. It stuck with her until her final breath.

In the more recent years, she had enjoyed being around family, especially her wonderful grandchildren Noah (21), Tyler (19), Madi (17). The center of her world had always been her fur babies. She always cared for them more than she cared for herself.

Her sight had really started deteriorating right around the age of 59/60. By her early 60’s, she was declared legally blind and could no longer drive or work. She tried making extra money by crafting since crafts and art had always been important to her. You could walk through the halls of her apartment building and know just who her friends were because she decorated all their doors for all the seasons/holidays. A few years later, the crafts got fewer and fewer as her eyesight rapidly deteriorated. This was going abnormally fast. The last year of her life was mostly in the dark. And because of poor hearing also, she was forced to live in her own kind of hell for the remaining year(s) of her life. She fought battles nobody knew about, but she kept fighting. Conversations were no longer fun for her since her hearing and sight were both so absent.

In the most recent times, she knew her time was limited. She talked about revelations with God, surreal dreams that made her feel that they were previews of her time as she entered the kingdom of Heaven. She was a believer and lover of God, and she very much loved the song “How Great Though Art,” so it was played for her often in that last week at the hospital. She laid everything out so easily and little signs everywhere because she knew it was going to be needed and so appreciated. That was her… she was preparing for the last stage of her life, and she was worried about making sure her family knew just how much she loved them by leaving trails.

Her wishes for organ donation were not eligible due to her poor health.

Memorial donations can be made to the family or to any humane society near the contributor’s location.

There will be a celebration of life to be planned for a future date.

HUFFORD FAMILY FUNERAL HOME, 1500 Manor Hill Rd., Findlay, (419-422-1500), is honored to have been entrusted with the care of Helen and her family.