Our mother, Janet Elizabeth Hesterwerth, passed away peacefully in the early morning of Sunday, September 28th, 2025, at The Gardens of Columbine in Littleton, Colorado under the care of Dignity Hospice. Just two months short of her 93rd birthday, at 92, her wish was to die in her sleep surrounded by her children – Cheryl, Brent and Janine – along with family, friends and wonderful caregivers.
As number six in a family of nine children and two parents, Janet was born in Pennsylvania on November 26th, 1932. She graduated high school and in her 20’s traveled the states with her brother Bob and his wife and ended up staying in Denver, Colorado where she met and married our father, Gene Hesterwerth. Janet always worked various, part-time, administrative jobs for the family’s greater good. But working outside of the home was never at the expense of being a wonderful wife and mother cooking three healthy meals a day (including her famous homemade bread, pizza, cinnamon rolls and canned pickles), sewing clothes and holding down the home front, making sure we all had a loving place to come home to and be fed both body and mind.
Janet was an avid reader for all of her life, probably as a consequence of her mother, Mary Boyer Plank, being an English teacher. Becoming a mother herself, education was always very important for her to instill in her family, which still shows today in all of her children’s inquisitive minds and love of books. Janet had a sharp wit and humor that showed up in all her stories but would defer to our father Gene when delivering jokes, after ruining them giving the punchline out of turn. She seemed to do this every time through the years and it’s even considered part of her charm, but this might also have been slyly intentional.
Married 52 years, mom had converted to Catholicism and actively practiced the faith so important to her husband and our father, (Eu)Gene Henri Hesterwerth, who proceeded her in death Marching forth to Heaven on March 4, 2011.
Janet is survived by all three of her children – Cheryl Hesterwerth Thompson, Brent Hesterwerth and Janine Graham and son-in-law Terry Graham. She has 4 living grandchildren, Rebecca and Abbey Graham, Courtney St. Louis and husband Justin, Cameron Thompson and wife Chloe. Janet has two living sisters, Margaret Donnelly and Patricia Schneider and numerous, loving extended family!
Loving wife, mother, sister, grandmother/Nana, aunt and friend, Janet was ready to join Gene in Heaven.
A rosary/memorial service will be held at 6:30 pm the evening of Thursday, October 23rd, 2025 at Horan & McConaty in Lakewood – 3101 S. Wadsworth Blvd.
Funeral Mass on Friday, October 24th, 2025 at 10:30 am at St. Jude Catholic Church, 9405 W. Florida Ave. in Lakewood with Interment following at 12:30 pm at Fort Logan National Cemetery.
The family then invites everyone to an Open House for food, fun and fellowship at the Graham home in Littleton immediately following.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Janet Elizabeth Hesterwerth, please visit our flower store.