Janice Cattarin

Janice Ann (Swiergos) Cattarin passed away peacefully early Wednesday July 8th, after a long period of declining health, at the Willow Point Nursing Home where she had been a resident for the last several years. While her later years were a struggle, she covered a lot of ground on her journey. She wasn’t in any way a boring person, and she doesn’t in any way deserve a boring final tribute.

Janice was born in 1938 in Toledo, Ohio to Kenneth and Irene (Krzyminski) Swiergosz (later Swiergos). She moved to Alliance, Ohio in 1944, and while growing up there met Robert (Bob) Eugene Cattarin, whom she married in 1959 after college. She attended Stephens College and then Ohio University Scripps College of Communication where she earned a BSJ-Journalism.

Jan and Bob moved to the Triple Cities (NY) in the early 1960s when Bob took a position with IBM. They settled in Endwell NY with their two children, Cynthia (Cindy) Kay and Gary Michael Cattarin. Shortly thereafter Bob became ill and passed away due to cancer in 1966.

Widowed at 28 with two young children was not a good place for a woman in the 1960’s. Janice rose to the challenge and raised her kids as a professional single mom in an age when that was a rarity. She was, in short, a role model. She took a position with IBM, who accepted her liberal arts degree and trained her to be a programmer, serving both their need for highly talented people and their values of taking care of their own. Jan became a highly recognized staff member, and well into the 1980’s many IBMers still remembered Bob. Her career at IBM spanned numerous functions from technical to international product planning until she retired early in 1992.
She never remarried, but instead became involved in so many organizations that it’s hard to keep count. She was very active in her church, Our Lady of Angels (now Holy Family) and among other things served as finance chair for the annual bazaar, introducing her kids to late nights counting huge stacks of dollar bills. She held leadership roles at Lyceum, the Endwell League of Community Action (ELOCA), and many other groups, but her strongest focus was the American Association of University Women. In AAUW she served as President, Vice-President, and almost every other officer role. She was awarded the Woman of Achievement Award in 1984 and became a 50-year Honorary Life Member in 2017. She served on the Scholarship committee, reflecting her commitment to women’s education.
Socially, her grandchildren claim she was busier than all of them combined. She was always going to meetings, shows, concerts, luncheons, dinners, you name it. She was cool ahead of her time, and had a remarkable ability to identify and inspire in her family a love of music and arts that all seemed to turn out to be classics that we still love today.

One might say that Jan was opinionated and one would not be mistaken, but one might also say she was well informed and intellectually qualified to be that way. She was strong willed and lived on her terms, traits she both adopted from her upbringing and inspired in her descendants. She lived “Life according to Jan” and would want to go out with a blaze of glory.

Jan is predeceased by her husband Bob, her parents Ken and Irene, and her sister-in-law Emma (Leinweber) Swiergos. She is survived by her brother Duane Swiergos of Williamsville NY, daughter Cindy and husband Phil Goldman of Corning NY, son Gary and wife Ann (Beaupre) of Marlborough MA, grandchildren Kristin and husband Justin Farwell of Breesport NY, Stephanie and husband Michael Epstein of Cooper City FL, Brian Kawzenuk and wife Sarah of Escondido CA, Lee Cattarin and fiancé Andrew Moberg of Seattle WA, and Emily Cattarin of Marlborough MA, great-grandchildren Kathryn, Thomas, Mason, and Riley, nieces Sally (Swiergos) and husband Jim Luczak, Susanne (Swiergos) Daly, nephew Scott Swiergos, as well as great nieces and nephews.
No accounting of her life would be complete without thanks for those who provided care and comfort in her later years, particularly the staffs of The Hearth at Castle Gardens, Willow Point Nursing Home, Fresenius Kidney Care Vestal, and the van service, RediVan, who’d provide treats and smiles to make an otherwise arduous routine into at least a small enjoyment. Her life was enriched by many friends and to all, the family sends thanks and happiness.

Due to COVID, no indoor services will be held. A brief graveside service and burial will be held Wednesday at 11 AM at Calvary Cemetery in Johnson City NY. Arrangements are through Allen Memorial Home, Endicott NY (https://www.allenmemorial.com/). For family and friends unable to travel, the burial service will be live-streamed on Facebook under Gary Cattarin’s profile.

In lieu of flowers, the family will be establishing a scholarship fund In Jan’s name and asks that contributions be made to the AAUW Scholarship Fund, c/o SUNY Broome Foundation, P.O. Box 1017, Binghamton, NY 13902-1017, in memory of Jan Cattarin. Online donations can be made at http://www2.sunybroome.edu/foundation.