Janice Louise “Jan” Gamaunt

Janice Louise “Jan” Gamaunt, age 78, Brown County, IN passed away Friday, Jan. 7, 2022 at Franklin Meadows in Franklin, IN. Born Oct. 1, 1943 in Boston, MA, she was the daughter of John Pearson Brink and Hazel H. (Hansen) Brink. She was a graduate of Westwood High School, Class of 1961 in Westwood, MA and a graduate of Rhode Island Hospital School of Nursing, Class of 1964. She went on to receive a certification for professional achievement in perioperative nursing practice and also as a mobile intensive care nurse. She also continued her education at the University of Redlands in California. Over a career spanning 46 years, she served as an operating and/or emergency room registered nurse at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, NY, Overholt Thoracic Clinic in Boston, MA, Stanford University Medical Center in Stanford, CA, Long Beach Memorial Hospital in Long Beach, CA, Bear Valley Community Hospital in Big Bear Lake, CA, St. Bernardine Medical Center in San Bernardino, CA, and Columbus Regional Hospital in Columbus, IN.
Jan helped make the world a better place. She was a person with quiet, strong beliefs and principles that were put into action in her work and in her daily life. An intelligent, caring, and nurturing person, for her, nursing was a logical career choice. She was a woman with reverence for the lives of people and animals (domestic and wild) and for our planet. Her personal and professional concerns were joined.
They were also joined in her community. From family, friends, workplace, country and politics, even to the nursing home in the last months of her life, Jan engaged and “bloomed where she was planted”.
Common threads through her life were curiosity, questioning, reading, study, and humor, coupled with a refined sense of the beautiful. She treasured her family and her family treasured her.
Jan was a supporter/member of the ACLU, ASPCA, Brown County Extension Homemakers (Cedar Hills Club), Democratic Party, Bartholomew County Democrats, Greenpeace, League of Women Voters, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists and the World Wildlife Fund.
Jan married her husband, Roger Lesparre Gamaunt, who was an aircraft engineer and designer of the Gama Goat, on March 25, 1971 and he preceded her in death on November 12, 1981. She was also preceded in death by her parents.
Jan is survived by five siblings; John Theodore Brink (Jean), of Pacifica, CA, Robert Madsen Hansen, of Cocoa, FL, Loren Hansen Brink (Jesse Tran), of Spencertown, NY, Marianne “Mitzi” Brink Kummerer (James Michael), of Brown County, IN and Martha Brink Effgen (Don), of Higganum, CT; eight nieces and nephews: Jeffrey Thomas Brink, Laura Brink Ritenour, Paul Madsen Brink, Adam Chapman Brink, Alex Brink Effgen, Natalie Brink Sawyer, Emily Brink Effgen Lawrence and Gwen Brink Effgen Nero; and fifteen great-nieces and great-nephews.
There will be no service or visitation at this time. Bond-Mitchell Funeral Home in Nashville, IN is assisting with the arrangements.
Online condolences may be given at www.BondMitchellFuneralHome.com