Janelle Amanda Boone was born to Rod and Lora Boone on December 16, 1959, in Deming, New Mexico.  The family lived in Texas from 1960 to 1965, first in Fort Stockton, then El Paso.  In 1965 they lived in Mesquite, New Mexico, in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1966, then back to Texas, Houston and Austin this time, from 1967 onwards. 

She graduated from Leander High School in the class of 1977, then graduated as a Paramedic from Austin Community College in 1988 and was proud to be in the first class of a Paramedic to Registered Nurse bridge program.  Janelle, “Jan” to so many, worked as a Paramedic in Largo, Florida, in 1988, and went on to join the Austin-Travis County EMS in 1989, where she served with distinction and pride for thirty years before retiring as a Commander.

Janelle married Dale Johnson and their son, Luke, was born in 1977, son, Mark, in 1979, and daughter, Mandy, in 1981.  Janelle was a proud grandmother many times over.  She began a relationship with Debbie Fena that lasted from 1995 until Debbie’s passing in 2011.  On June 26, 2015, the very day same-sex marriage was legalized, Janelle and Christine Wylie were in Travis County’s first group to receive their marriage license.  On August 29 of the same year, the loving couple was wed, and they went on to fill their homes with love, laughter, and cats.  Janelle passed away in Pennsylvania on September 9, 2023, after a life well-lived.

“Jan” Boone wore a great many hats in her life.  She was a wife, a mother and a grandmother, a sister and a beloved aunt.  She was a friend, a mentor, a first responder, and an immensely respected Commander.  Words cannot describe the lives that she touched, nor how they were brightened by her humor, her wit, her generosity, and her love.  Numbers cannot do justice to the lives that she quite literally saved in her decades of service, instruction, and leadership.

Janelle was preceded in death by her eldest brother, Craig Anthony Boone, in 1969, her mother Lora May Kull Boone in 2003, her wife Debbie Fena Boone in 2011, and her father Rodney Tom Boone in 2016.

She is survived by her older brother Steve Boone and sister-in-law Cindy, and Janelle’s nieces Stacy and Kristy; by her son Luke Johnson and daughter-in-law Maria, grandson Samuel and granddaughter Kayla; by her son Mark and daughter-in-law Nicole, granddaughter Tiyana and grandson Craig; and by her daughter Mandy and her husband Ronnie, granddaughters Addison and Taylor, and grandsons Troy and Colton; by the ATCEMS family, and by her loving wife, Christine Boone.

Janelle’s arrangements have been entrusted to the Thomas E. Fickinger Funeral Home, 210 North East Street, Coudersport.  To share a memory or condolence visit www.thomasfickinger.com.