Janis Johansen-Wood passed away Saturday, January 5, 2013 at 8:55 pm at Carle Hospital in Urbana. Visitation will be held from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm Friday, January 11, 2013 at Renner-Wikoff Chapel and Crematory, Urbana.

Janis was born Janis Kirsten Johansen on September 15, 1938 in McPherson, Kansas, the daughter of Bernice Dresher Johansen and Christian Johansen, an immigrant who traveled from Denmark to the U.S. in 1927. She lived in McPherson briefly before the family moved to Decatur and then to Urbana, Illinois. She attended Urbana schools and graduated as class valedictorian from Urbana High School in 1956. After studying vocal music at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Janis traveled to Denmark to attend a Danish school where she learned to speak fluent Danish, an ability she sustained throughout her life. After traveling in Europe, she returned to the U.S. in 1960, and in 1965 married Thomas Knecht in Urbana. In the 1960s and 70s, she worked at the University of Illinois in Student Services and later at the Survey Research Laboratory. In 1981, she married Larry Wood in Champaign and worked for the Anderson's, Inc., in Champaign.

Janis is survived by her husband Larry, daughters Ketty (Bill) DuVall, Kaja Schriefer (Gary Stern), Kirsten Knecht, Ilse Knecht (Anthony Makes), Chelsea (Paul) Guder; and a son, Christopher (Hannah) Wood. She is also survived by 4 grandchildren, Kailee DuVall, Nikolas Schriefer, Hannah Schriefer, and Johnny Makes; a sister Sigrid (Arnie) Aeschleman, and two brothers, Lansing Johansen (Fusako Butler) and Sten Johansen. She will be missed by many loving pets and grandpets a