Janet Aileen Selke How

Janet Aileen Selke How, of Ithaca, died on January 8th, 2018 at 93.

Born in Minneapolis September 27th, 1924, third child of educators Lulu (Elliott) and Erich C. Selke, Janet was raised in Mayville and Grand Forks, North Dakota, where her father retired as Dean of Education. After graduating from the University of North Dakota (Phi Beta Kappa, 1945), and teaching high school in a small town in northern Minnesota, she headed east to Cornell where she earned an M.S. from the College of Home Economics (1948) and then taught at the University of Vermont.

While tending to lab rats at Cornell one Thanksgiving holiday, she met Richard Brian How, a Ph.D. student from Montreal. They married in 1949, returning to Ithaca in 1956 after academic postings in Saskatchewan and Ontario when Brian joined the faculty of Cornell's Department of Agricultural Economics. Together for 62 years they raised and nourished three children with stories, nature, summer camping, winter skiing, books, plays, concerts, and road trips across the United States and Canada.

Both Janet and Brian valued contributing to the Ithaca community. Over the years Janet did outreach for early Foodnet Meals on Wheels, coordinated volunteers for Tompkins County Hospital, served as a Girl Scout leader and on the Tompkins-Tioga Girl Scout Committee, coordinated Sunday School for the First Congregational Church for many years, and served (with Brian) as first president of the Northeast Elementary School PTA. A second-generation P.E.O. and member for 75 years, she was a founding member of Chapter BJ in Ithaca.

In a 2004 oral history, she said, "Everything I ever did-and still [do] to this day-was colored by the Depression. We all grew up with a sense of civic responsibility, and volunteering, and doing something to help other people. We didn't have money to give, but we gave our enlightened, educated selves. So I thought I would take Home Economics because at that time, Home Economics was a kind of social service work-you went to a small town to teach-because rural homemakers had such really terrible conditions, to live in. It was before they had the Rural Electrification program. They didn't know about nutrition, they didn't know about-they didn't know about all the things Home Economics can tell you about. I did not go into Home Economics because I wanted to make pretty cookies, or give lovely tea parties. I couldn't have cared less about that. But I knew it was a way to improve people's lives."

She had many pleasures: reading, gardening, nature, walking (especially at Sapsucker Woods), book groups, quilting, sewing (including a long-standing weekly sewing group), art, history, and her family. She retained both passion for North Dakota and Midwestern modesty.

In addition to her parents and husband (2012), she was predeceased by brother Albert G. Selke (1944) and son George Martin How (1993). She is survived by her older sister Elizabeth S. Hensley of Columbia, Missouri; two daughters, Sarah How (James P. Alexander) of Ithaca and Katherine (James R.) Conschafter of Richmond, Virginia; six grandchildren, Michael (Amanda) Conschafter of Reston, Virginia, Stephen Conschafter (Miguel Perez) of Orlando, Laura (Daniel) Hoffman of Richmond, Andrew Alexander of Ithaca, Elizabeth Alexander of Ithaca, and Peter Alexander of Minneapolis; and six great-grandchildren, James, Hugh, and Amelia Conschafter, and Abigail, George, and Knox Hoffman.

Interment will be at Greensprings Natural Cemetery; a memorial gathering will be announced at a later date.
Donations in her memory may be made to the First Congregational Church, 301 Highland Road, Ithaca NY or P.E.O. Executive Office, 3700 Grand Ave., Des Moines IA 50312.