Janet Thornby Gallagher

84, Moorhead, MN, form-

erly of Big Cormorant

Lake, MN, went to heaven

Monday, January 20,

2020, at River Pointe of

Moorhead.

Janet was born No-

vember 22, 1935, in

Minot, ND, in St. Joseph’s

Hospital, to Wilbur and

Beatrice (Bacon) Water-

man. She was raised in

Minot where she graduat-ed from high school in

1954.

Janet married Marvin

Thornby and to this un-

ion, three sons were born,

Craig, Keith, and Bruce.

Bruce passed away Janu-

ary 28, 2009, which was

very difficult for Janet to

lose her youngest son.

Janet worked at The

Minot Daily News in the

1960s. She loved writing

and editing, and had

many adventures as a

newspaper reporter, in-

cluding a visit to a

Minuteman missile site in

the 1960s. Janet eventual-ly left Minot and moved

to the Fargo-Moorhead

area where she worked for

Concordia College as the

class notes editor. While

working at Concordia, she

finished her degree in En-

glish writing, at the age of

sixty-four. It was a

life-long dream of hers to

be a college graduate.

Janet married Howard

Gallagher in 1971, and

they made their home on

Big Cormorant Lake,

Pike’s Bay area, in 1972.

They both loved the lake

and the friends they made

there. Janet even took on

the task of writing a book

called “Bridging the Gap,”

the story of the Lake Cor-

morant region. After they

retired, they spent many

winters at Lake Havasu,

AZ, where they made

many friends.

Janet also authored a

book called “An In-

gredient Called Kate.”

She won the Beverly M.

Family History Memoir

award for this book. She

was a member of the Press

Women’s Association for

many years.

Janet is survived by:

her husband, Howard;

sons, Craig (Judy) and

Keith (Tracey) Thornby;

daughter-in-law, Myra

Thornby; Howard’s

daughters, Lori (Steve)

Rasmussen, Becky (Steve)

Kennedy, and Vicki

(Steve) Pohlman; and a

number of grandchildren

and great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in

death by: son, Bruce;

brother, Charles Water-

man; and sister, Ester

Lokken.

Visitation for Janet will

begin at 12 noon, followed

by a Life Celebration ser-

vice at 1 PM, Thursday,

January 30, 2020, in

Korsmo Funeral Chapel,

Moorhead.

Online guestbook:

www.korsmofuneral

service.com.