Frances "Fran" Justison, 72

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Frances “Fran” Justison, 72, of Springfield, died Sunday, Sept. 20, 2020, at 3 p.m. at Memorial Medical Center in Springfield.

Visitation will be held Friday, Sept. 25, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Staab Funeral Home in Springfield. Funeral services will follow at 11:30 a.m. at the funeral home with Pastor Stefan Munker officiating. Burial will follow at the family plot located in Calvary Cemetery. CDC guidelines will be followed.

Mrs. Justison was born Jan. 25, 1948, at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, to Edward and Frieda (Gand) Jansen. She married Thomas Justison on Nov. 5, 1983.

A graduate of Sacred Heart Griffin High School, she earned a home economics  B.S. from Illinois State University and an M.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She began her career working in her family’s business, Jansen’s Market (presently the Dollar General) in Southern View. She would reminisce of the hard work and the ability to not only work closely with her beloved family, but also to serve such a wonderful community in which she lived most of her life.

During her career, she served as a substitute teacher, 4-H youth specialist and home economist in Montgomery and Sangamon counties for over 20 years, teaching and helping others to not only see the potential in themselves, but also working to build healthy and successful family relationships. She then worked at the Montgomery County Health Department and for Illinois Valley as a prevention specialist, educating and counseling at-risk youth away from drugs and violence. 

For the past 20 years, she worked at the Building Blocks Day Care as an education specialist until her death. There she enthusiastically worked with toddlers, and her coworkers stated that she was like “sunshine” when she walked into the room, and always had a cheerful smile and kind words to say. 

She loved to work on the family farm. She was always  there to bring lunch and drinks, and truly support and engage fully in any pursuit that made her loved ones happy. She is remembered fondly and missed profoundly by her family as a quintessential example of a selfless woman dedicated to making every person she came into contact with feel loved, valued and important. 

Fiercely loyal to her friends and family, she could always be depended on as someone who would be there with a smile on her face to help. She was eternally grateful to her parents for working their entire lives to provide for their family and she said many times her greatest honor to them was to live a life serving and providing for others.

Whether known directly to her or not, she was the light in the lives of so many people and her memory lives on in the countless lives she touched. Her life was fulfilled, not by material goods, but rather by the love and time she could spend helping others. Her servant heart is an example not only for her family to follow, but is also a validation of her life’s importance and her contribution in making the world and anyone in it who was fortunate to have known her,  a truly better place to live. 

She is survived by her sisters-in-law, JoAnn Jansen and Nita Jansen; niece, Teri (husband Brian) Kerr, and their children, Brenna and Brandon Kerr; nephews Joe (wife Lee) Jansen, and their children, Lauren and Kristen Jansen, Jason (wife Kristina) Jansen, and their children, Matthew, William and Katherine Jansen and Brian (wife Kari) Jansen, and their children, Jeannie and Maggie Jansen; companion, Thomas Justison; and her adopted son, Tommy F. Justison.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by brothers, James and Joseph Jansen.

Memorials may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.

Online condolences may be left at www.staabfuneralhomes.com.