Thomas Janes

Thomas Barton Janes, beloved husband, father, and friend passed away peacefully surrounded by his children and in the arms of his beloved wife on his 80th birthday, May 13, 2023. He was born on May 13, 1943, in Chico, California to Harold Delos Janes and Miriam Barbara Lunsford.

Thomas was raised around the Pacific Northwest and eventually settled in Salem, Oregon, where he graduated from North Salem High School. He spent a year at BYU and then served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the Northeastern States Mission in New York State. He then joined the United States Army and was stationed in Seoul, South Korea, where he met the love of his life, Eunsoon Chang. They dated for two years and married in Seoul on June 20, 1968. He served in the Army until he honorably retired in 1984, and then resettled in Salem, Oregon where he supported his wife in her career and devoted himself to raising his five children. In 2010 after his wife retired and his mother passed away, he resettled in Utah where he spent the rest of his life. 

While in the Army, he served as a still photographic specialist and a cartographer and completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Maryland. He loved trains, Mt. Dew, vanilla ice cream, books, and his family. He built model trains in his garden and in his den. He was an avid reader of fantasy novels, which he loved to debate about with his children and grandchildren. Later in life, he enjoyed all the iterations of NCIS and other police procedural shows. He was a devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and his deep testimony was instrumental to his wife’s conversion to the Church. They were sealed for time and all eternity at the Swiss Temple, seven years and seven days after they were married. In the church, he served as a High Priest and in a myriad of other callings. 

He is survived by his wife, Eunsoon Chang Janes, his siblings Cheryl Winn, Sherman Janes, and Forrest Janes, and his children Barton Janes, Brandon Janes (Danielle), Bronson Janes, Tia Janes Jaynes (Cory), and Gia Janes Welch (Matthew). He is also survived by his nine grandchildren: Zacharia Janes, Jacob Janes, Joshua Janes, Zarona Janes, Lear Jaynes, Ella Jaynes, Quinn Jaynes, Declan Welch, and Eleanor Welch. He was predeceased by his parents, Harold and Miriam, and his sister Sally.

The viewing and funeral will be held Friday, May 19, 2023, at the Suncrest Chapel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints located at 14977 Roundtree Lane in Draper, UT. The viewing is at 10:00 AM, and the funeral will start at 11:00 AM. The interment will be at the Utah Veteran’s Cemetery and Memorial Park at 17111 S. 1700 W. in Bluffdale, UT. 

Thomas was wholly and entirely devoted to his wife and children, who will deeply miss him. Love you forever, Tompa!