Obituary: Janet T. Soukup, Part-Time Mattituck Resident, Dies at 82

Info via Bailey Funeral Home

Janet T. Soukup, a part-time Mattituck resident, died on August 5, 2015 at the Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey, from lymphoma. She was 82.

Janet was born in the Bronx to Edythe and Charles Schmitt.

She grew up in Scarsdale and spent her summers in Mattituck.

Her father, Charles, had a floor covering business, C.H Schmitt & Co, in New York City that Edythe took over at 47 when he passed away, which she ran until she was 84.

However, Janet wasn’t interested in floor covering. Instead, her ambitions were artistic, and she spent her life involved in creative pursuits.

She was good at everything from oil painting to cake decorating.

When an artist was needed, people called Janet, and she rarely said no to requests for her help.

Janet graduated from Scarsdale High School and then Skidmore in Saratoga Springs in

1955 with an art education degree. It was in Saratoga Springs that she met her husband, Stanley Soukup, of White Plains, a member of the Air Force and later, a chemical engineer.

They lived in Kettering, Ohio, and Dover, NJ before moving to Mendham Township in New Jersey in 1963.

Janet started her career teaching art in Briarcliff Manor, NY and resumed it after she had her children, Alicia and Cheri, as elementary school art teacher for the Morris School District in 1972.

She held that position until retiring in 1998.

She loved travel, and journeyed to Prague with her husband Stan.

They also renovated and spent time at her parents’ 100-year old house in Mattituck on a bluff overlooking the Great Peconic Bay.

Janet was the first woman president of the Scarsdale Young Republicans Club.

She was active in the Brookside Community Church, The Garden Club, Book Club, and The Brookside Women’s Club where she served as President.

She was also a Girl Scout leader, President of the Morris County Art Educators Association, and was active on various committees for the Art Educators of NJ.

She was a member Alpha Delta Kappa-Rho Chapter of the teacher sorority.

She volunteered at Morristown Memorial Hospital, Meals on Wheels and Mansion in May.

She was predeceased by her husband, Stanley in 2008.

She is survived by two daughters, Alicia Soukup of Mendham and daughter Cheri Soukup of Manhattan, a granddaughter, Sage Anne Thomas, a brother, Charles (Choddie) Schmitt of Mt. Kisco, NY, and a sister, Caryl Anne Speck of Melbourne, Florida.

In lieu of flowers donations can be sent to Mendham Township First Aid Squad, P.O. Box 122, Brookside, N.J., 07926 or the Carol G. Simon Cancer Center at Morristown Memorial Hospital, 100 Madison Ave., Morristown, N.J., 07962, and the Brookside Community Church, 8 East Main Street, Brookside, NJ 07926.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, August 13, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Bailey Funeral Home on 8 Hilltop Road in Mendham, NJ.

A memorial service will be held on Friday, August 14, at 11 a.m. at the Brookside Community Church.