A wife for one, a mother of four, a relative and friend of many, Janet L. Saeli of Warwick, NY, passed away on March 14, 2025, with family at Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice. She was 90 years old.
Born in Brooklyn on November 10, 1934, Janet was the daughter of Frank and Matilda (nee Resch) Schreiber, who emigrated to the United States from Bavaria in the 1920s, met in New York City and married in the depth of the Great Depression in 1932. Her parents were caring and kind, always providing for her, with her father working as an apartment building superintendent and her mother as a homemaker. Though an only child, she had the company of two dogs, the first Brownie and the second Nellie. Janet grew up on Intervale Avenue in the Bronx, Riverside Drive, in Manhattan and finally on Ocean Parkway and Dahill Road in Brooklyn. Coming of age in Brooklyn, she was an avid fan of the Dodgers, and, after they abandoned us, the New York Mets.
Janet was an excellent student and earned a B.A. from Hunter College. At home, she learned to play the piano very well, practicing daily for many years. In addition, Janet learned to understand, speak and even write German by listening to her parents speak the language as she grew up. She went ocean fishing with her father many times, often to Montauk Point.
Janet spent many idyllic days and weeks with her extended family and friends, including summer weeks in East Northport, Long Island and Denville, New Jersey, where she learned to swim. Her Aunt Sylvia in the Bronx always welcomed her as a part of her family, fostering a lifelong friendship with her children, Emily and Fred. She also had many good times with her cousin Eleanor and friend Elfriede. Perhaps most impactful was Tante Anna, her father’s sister, who sponsored him when he arrived in Ellis Island. She took Janet on vacations, taught her crafts from baking to crocheting, and most importantly, fostered her deep Catholic faith.
After attaining her undergraduate degree, Janet worked at secretarial positions in New York. She soon met the love of her life, John Saeli, at a wedding; they quickly engaged and were married on August 22, 1959. In short order, they had four children and moved from Brooklyn to Pearl River, New York, where they would raise their family. Janet was a homemaker until the children were entering their teen years and then worked outside the home, first as a secretary for a uniform company 10 minutes from home, and then later for many years at Aegis Insurance in Jersey City, NJ, where she rose to be the director of Human Resources.
Janet and John took great care, attention, and love in raising her children, fostering a commitment to doing well in school, an ethic of doing good for the community, and a sense of discovery of our country and world. The family first took day trips to places like the Catskill Game Farm, then explored the Adirondacks for a week, and then took memorable camping vacations to places in the northeast and Virginia. Before marriage, Janet visited her parents’ families in Bavaria and returned with John after their 25th anniversary, fostering in her children an understanding and affinity for their heritage.
Janet did much in her retirement. She and John traveled the country with each other and at times with others. And she engaged in a new passion – quilting, becoming an active member of the Warwick Valley Quilters’ Guild and creating untold beautiful quilts for family, friends and charity.
A family statement reads, “Janet was a devoted and loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She always put her family first, teaching us through her example how to help our small corner of this world through our commitment, care, and compassion. We will miss her always.”
Janet is survived by her devoted husband of 65 years, John at home; three sons, John Jr. and his wife Penelope (Newton, NJ), Anthony Saeli (Warwick, NY), and Jim Saeli and his wife Jeanne (Warwick, NY); four grandchildren, Kristina Saeli, Ashley Koonce, Meghan Puglisi, and Nicholas Saeli; and one great-grandson Marcus Puglisi. She was predeceased by her daughter, Cynthia, who was the wife of Prabhakar Kudva.
Visitation: Thursday, March 20, 2025, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Lazear-Smith & Vander Plaat Memorial Home, 17 Oakland Avenue, Warwick
Mass of Christian burial: March 20 at 11 a.m. at St. Stephen RC Church, 75 Sanfordville Road, Warwick
Interment: Ascension Cemetery in Airmont, NY.
In lieu of flowers, please to donate to the Cynthia Kudva Memorial Scholarship at the State University of New York at Binghamton online at binghamton.edu/foundation/giving/index.html or by phone at 607-777-6929 (please specify your donation is to the Cynthia Kudva Memorial Scholarship).
Arrangements were entrusted to Lazear-Smith & Vander Plaat Memorial Home, 17 Oakland Avenue, Warwick, NY. To send an online condolence, visit lsvpmemorialhome.com.