Janice Renee Darnell-Knowles, age 57, passed away on July 10, 2016, in Splendora, Texas.
Janice was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, to Kenneth and Patricia Darnell on January 8, 1959. She grew up in the St. Louis area as well as in Chicago and Colorado. She became a big sister when her parents adopted her only brother, Kevin Darnell, just as she was entering her teenage years. As a teenager, Janice had the opportunities to also develop strong relationships with—and be influenced by—her Uncle Leroy and Aunt Laquita as well as her grandmother, Billie Marcheski. Some of her fondest memories of childhood, however, are of the times she spent on the Darnell family farm in Missouri sitting around her grandparents’ kitchen table and playing with her many cousins.
Janice married Richard Moore in 1976, while living in Colorado, and eventually moved with him to Las Vegas, Nevada, after Richard joined the Air Force. It was while living in Las Vegas that Janice gave birth to her oldest son, Kristopher Edwin, in November 1978. As she always told the story, she went in to labor on a Saturday night after watching an episode of Saturday Night Live. She claimed that Kris owes his birthday, in part, to the comedy of Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, and Gilda Radner. Janice’s youngest son, Kyle Matthew, on the other hand, decided he would be born, in March 1981, during one of the worst blizzards Colorado Springs, Colorado, has ever experienced. And just they both were born, Janice would spend the rest of her life looking to the smiles and laughter she would get from Kris and the warmth she counted on from Kyle during both the difficult and the joyous moments she faced.
After separating from Richard, Janice would later go on to work multiple jobs as a single mother to help support her two sons. Before her first Christmas as a single mother she was found, by a coworker at a nighttime job, crying because she did not know how she would afford gifts for her sons. That Christmas, Janice’s coworkers provided more than her small family needed. When she later asked how she might ever repay them for their generosity, Janice was told to pay it forward. That is a lesson Janice never forgot and tried her best to teach Kris and Kyle. Janice lived her life by a willingness to give—even out of what she did not have—to others who had even less.
While living with her sons in Nixa, Missouri, Janice met and fell in love with Leonard Knowles in 1985. The family moved to be with Leonard in Lawton, Oklahoma, where Janice and Leonard were married a couple of years later. Janice and Leonard remained married until Leonard’s death in 2012. She never stopped missing him.
Janice’s journey to a relationship with Jesus Christ was a long one. She picked up and began reading the Bible in her mid-30’s. This also led her to buy copies for both of her sons as gifts. Kris would rely upon this copy of the Bible through his own search for faith and baptism. Kris would later have the pleasure of baptizing Janice into Christ in 1999 at Lake Houston Church of Christ in Humble, Texas. Despite discovering her faith in Christ, however, Janice had difficulty finding comfort in relationships with other believers. It was not until she started attending Greenville Oaks with Kris and Bethany that she finally felt she had found a home and placed membership in 2014.
Janice found some her greatest joy in life in the lives of her niece, Grace, and her grandchildren. While her boys were still teenagers, Janice started collecting toys for the future grandchildren she dreamed she would have. She was eventually blessed by both Kris and Kyle with three beautiful granddaughters and a grandson.
In June 2014, Janice found out her cervical cancer had returned and was given 12-18 months to live. With the loving and tireless help of James Peterson, Janice was able to face down cancer and spend another 2 years with us. All of her life she had always asked God that she meet death peacefully, in her sleep, and in her own bed. On July 10, 2016, Janice died peacefully, in her sleep, in her own bed after having spent the weekend with family and walked into the loving arms of her Savior.
Janice was preceded in death by her father, Kenneth Darnell, and her husband, Leonard Knowles. She is survived by her mother, Pat Darnell, her brother and sister-in-law, Kevin and Cheryl Darnell, her neice Grace Darnell, her sons and their wives, Kris and Bethany Moore and Kyle and Bobbi Moore, and her grandchildren: Katie Grace, 9, Kaidyn Matthew, 6, Anabelle Rose, 3, and Mila Kellye, 3. She will be missed by all.
