OBITUARY

Janet Davis

Posted - October 18, 2013

Janet, who lived in Albert Street, died from liver cancer on September 5, aged 68. She was born in Marston on July 24, 1945 to Phyllis and Bill Grimshaw. When Janet was two, they moved to Jericho to live at 35 Nelson Street. At the time, her great-grandparents ran the Carpenters Arms pub just along the road. Her grandparents lived at 5 Nelson Street, and her grandad would give her a three-penny bit to get him a small jug of beer each Sunday. Janet went to St Barnabas Old School, which is now housing, but they did not have a sports field and she spent her time playing on the greens of Worcester College. She spent her summers with her friends playing in the grounds, having picnic lunches, and years later with her sister Christine they would take their own children to play with other Jericho families. When Janet left school, she worked at the Oxford University Press, and not long after met Robin Watkins, the father of her first born, Lisa Marie. After a spell at Woodlands Park in Radley, she moved to Portsmouth. However she returned to Oxford after splitting from Mr Watkins. Back in the city, she married Tony Davis, and the pair went on to have three boys – Andrew, Steven and Jason. They lived in Canal Street, and then moved on to 21 Albert Street, where she spent the next 40 years.

When Jason was born, her job as a child-minder became her life’s work. She would look after many local youngsters who all called her Granny. Over the years she cared for hundreds, watching the children grow up into adults and have youngsters of their own. Her family described her “like the Pied Piper” some days, leading happy children through the streets of Jericho. They said that she loved each and every one, and was ready to help anyone in any way she could. “The Janets of this world are few and far between.”

Janet was also as an excellent chef, cooking up food to sell at numerous stalls, and also went on to run the Jericho lunch club. Friends and family say she was regular fixture at the local playground. Granny Davis, they said, was born to help others and lived “a proper Jericho life”. Janet’s husband Tony died two years ago, but she is survived by her four children, and 16 grandchildren.

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