Janet M. Crane of Southport died on Jan. 26, 2024, after several long illnesses.

She was born on April 2, 1931 to Dr. Henry Roust and Dewella Wenstrom Roust, in Montevideo Minnesota. After what she always described as an idyllic childhood in Montevideo, shared with her older brother Norman, she attended Carleton College and earned a B.A. and M.A in education at the University of Minnesota. 

Jan loved the outdoors and instilled in her children a passion for hiking, skiing, canoeing, and camping (even in the most dreadful weather). She had many gifts, including intelligence, wit, humor, and beauty, and later in life turned her considerable  creative talents to writing plays.  

After writing her first  play, she was accepted  into the playwrights workshop at the Actor's Studio in New York, where she perfected the  play which was then workshopped at the Gloucester Stage Company in Massachusetts and led to a National Endowment for the Arts grant. The play later ran for two weeks Off-Off-Broadway.   

She met her husband Lawrence Crane, the love of her life for 34 years, in another playwright’s workshop,  and their wonderful life together included living on the rocky coast of Maine, spending time with their loving extended families, and writing and seeing plays.

In addition to her husband Larry, she will be dearly missed  by her  children Dr. Katharine Wenstrom (Dr. Dwight Rouse), Eric Paetow (Lana), Lincoln Paetow (Kertsiri Deema-Paetow), and stepchildren Deborah Komlo (Thomas) and Daniel Crane, along with six grandchildren, four step-grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

A celebration of her life will be held in the spring.  

Arrangements are entrusted to Hall Funeral Home and Crematory, 975 Wiscasset Road, Boothbay.  Condolences may shared with the family at hallfuneralhomes.com