Janice Eileen Grupido

Janice Eileen Grupido, age 73, passed away on December 12, 2022. She was born to Dorethea Dove and Buferd Dove Beloved wife of Giulio Grupido Loving mother of Eileen (Jerry) Plattenberg and Ilaria (Paul) Pantelis Cherished grandmother of Gabriel Plattenberg, Clarissa Plattenberg, and Giulio Pantelis Loving and serving Jesus and her family with all her heart were the hallmarks of Janice's life. She was married to Giulio Grupido on September 28, 1968. She immediately devoted herself to learning the family's Italian heritage, stories and recipes and purposed herself to share the love of Christ with each person through acts of compassion and help. Always ready to give an answer about the hope she had in Christ for salvation, she would readily use her skilled gift for words to encourage hearts toward the Lord. Having come to recognize her own need for forgiveness of sin, she believed in Jesus for His sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead as payment for her own sin and received His free gift of salvation through grace at a young age. Soon thereafter, in gratitude and obedience to His Word, she began to serve the Lord in early high school as the organist at Community Baptist Church in Madison Heights where her mother brought her children to attend services. After getting married, she and her new husband attended Gratiot Baptist in Detroit with their two daughters until 1977 when she and her family moved to Troy and began attending Troy Baptist Church, later renamed to be Woodside Bible Church. There, she served in many capacities during the 45 years she faithfully attended. Her love for children and the bible led her to serve as a Sunday School teacher and later as the superintendent for children's church. She sat on a curriculum advisory board to assist church staff in the selection and implementation of new curriculum. When her grandbabies came to be, she went back to teaching in early childhood so that she could enjoy every minute of their faith development. When the church built a new building, she assisted with the move, painting classrooms for the children's wing. Serving as a lead teacher in early childhood, Jan shepherded many using flannel story boards, puppets, and gregarious story-telling with an intimate knowledge of scriptural truth. She led summer camps, children's Christmas programs, and attended Children's Pastors conferences in order to always be learning how to teach better and reach more with the love of Christ. It wasn't just children that Jan served. Jan opened her home to the small group ministry at Woodside and led a working women's group weekly. She also served as a small group champion to shepherd other leaders. Her passion to know God's word led her to study it through Bible Study Fellowship where eventually Jan and her daughter Eileen were asked to serve as small group leaders. Lastly, Jan always cared for the elderly, widows and orphans whenever God led her to opportunities to do so. Jan was employed by Community Baptist Preschool as Director in the late 1970's and early 80's. She transitioned to selling Real Estate soon after with B.E. Jiggins Real Estate and Schweitzer Real Estate. Later, she was promoted to manager of the Schweitzer Real Estate Troy office. She ended her career as the Broker and Co-owner of Countryside, GMAC Real Estate where she led with integrity and humility. Jan was an exceptional cook and helped to create an almost 400 page cookbook and family history book for her family in the year before she died. She loved playing piano, sewing, reading and spending every possible minute with her three grandchildren. Her favorite hymn was, "O Jesus, I have promised", whose lyrics are printed on her prayer card. One of her favorite bible verses was Philippians 1:21, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Though she will be missed, heaven is her gain and her joy in Jesus is now realized in full! In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries; https://drmm.org/ or Compassion International; https://www.compassion.com/

Janice Eileen Grupido

December 19, 1948 - December 12, 2022