What do you say about someone whose life was so full – so full of wisdom, kindness, friendship, and love?  We can start at the beginning.  Janis Ilene Freeborn was born in Syracuse, New York, on February 6, 1951.  She grew up on her parents' dairy farm just outside Cazenovia, New York.  Jan remembered her kindergarten graduation in 1957 as one of the happiest days of her life, in large part because this happy event was soon overshadowed by the untimely passing of her father, Howard Freeborn.  That left Jan's mother, Marjorie Freeborn, to run the farm and raise four young children, ranging in age from twelve years to nine months old, on her own.

Jan's childhood was filled with a love of reading, music, nature, and family.  She graduated from Cazenovia Central High School in 1969, and went on to college at Keuka College, perched on the shore of Keuka Lake (what Jan called the "pinky" of the Finger Lakes), majoring in elementary education.  During freshman year, she met a number of people from backgrounds different from her own, including Bob Ackerman, from neighboring Colgate University.  It would take Bob over seven years to pop the question, and Jan four months to answer it, but on June 4, 1978, they were married and began a loving, productive partnership that would last for almost 46 years.

Meanwhile, Jan had pursued her interest in elementary education.  After obtaining her bachelor's degree from Keuka, she taught for a few years in the small border town of Theresa, New York.  She then journeyed to Greeley, Colorado, where she obtained a master's degree in elementary reading from the University of Northern Colorado, insisting that it was mere coincidence that Bob was beginning his legal career a few miles away in Denver.  Jan taught for one year in the dusty cowtown (or perhaps more accurately, sheeptown) of Merino, Colorado; it was outside her double-wide where Jan finally agreed to marry Bob when he succeeded in starting her 15-year-old Dodge; they kissed as dust swirled around the old gas-guzzling vehicle.

Jan taught for two years in a small schoolhouse in Prospect Valley, roughly where Denver International Airport now stands.  In 1980, Bob responded to what would become a life-changing offer to teach at the then "proud and independent" Dickinson School of Law, and the couple moved to Carlisle.  In Carlisle, Jan taught reading in a succession of elementary schools, volunteered extensively in the community, and made countless friends..  Her activities included working with an adult literacy project (including tutoring in the Cumberland County Prison), Project Share, and serving ably as President of the Carlisle Area League of Women Voters, where she co-produced the smash hit video, Ready, Set, Recycle!, which would be broadcast by public television stations throughout the country.  Along the way, she became the loving mother of two beautiful daughters, Rebecca (b. 1981) and Laura (b. 1985).

Jan's sojourn in Carlisle was interrupted twice, as the family moved first to Salem, Oregon (1996-99) and then (with Jan and Bob as empty-nesters) to Detroit, Michigan (2008-2019).  At each location, Jan immersed herself in the community, taking on a series of volunteer opportunities, frequently centered upon reading.  Jan served as supply organist at Carlisle's First United Church of Christ and as a board member of two Detroit-area Jewish Congregations (the Reconstructionist Congregation of Detroit and Grosse Pointe Jewish Council).  She spent several years as a volunteer in the Detroit Public Schools Let's Read program and was vital to RCD's sponsorship of a Syrian refugee family.  She returned to Carlisle in 2019 and again immersed herself in community activities, long-standing friendships, and long walks with Gracie the Wonder Dog of the Midwest.

Jan's busy life was often punctuated by travel:  camping trips with family, foreign travel, bicycle trips in Europe, and of late, river and ocean cruises.  She did not allow a recent diagnosis of dementia to slow her down; with the help of friends and family, she persevered.  It was a shock to all when on March 4, 2024, Jan suffered a hemorrhagic stroke during a doctor's appointment at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She died on March 23, surrounded by her husband and daughters.

Jan is predeceased by her parents, Marjorie and Howard Freeborn and her brother, Richard Freeborn. She is survived by her brother, Barney Freeborn of New Woodstock, NY, her sister, JoAnn Zirbel of Madison, NY, her loving husband, Bob Ackerman of Carlisle, PA, her daughters Becky Ackerman, of Fort Washington, PA, and Laura Ackerman Altman, of Durham, NC, the world's best sons-in-law, Kevin Stufflet and Joel Altman, precocious grandchildren Emma Joshua Altman, Navi Sophia Altman, and Arlo Howard Stufflet, and countless additional family and friends.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 p.m. (visitation beginning at 1:00), Wednesday, March 27, 2024 at Ewing Brothers Funeral Home, 630 S. Hanover Street, Carlisle, with our dear friend, Steve Tompkins, presiding.  Burial will follow immediately after the service, in Congregation Beth Tikvah's section of St. Patrick's Cemetery on McClure's Gap Road.  The family will welcome visitors for shiva calls at its home, 1236 White Birch Lane, Carlisle, with evening prayers as sundown approaches.  The family will also take shiva calls from noon to sundown for the remainder of the week.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Bosler Memorial Library children's reading programs, to Friends of the Letort, and Project Share.