Janice Marie Claire

Janice was born to Edith (neé Schill) and Henry Larcheveque in Queens, NY and lived in Cambria Heights until she was 16. The youngest of three siblings, she was the only one still living with her parents when they moved eastward to Hampton Bays in 1969. Janice went to Hampton Bays high school and graduated in 1971. She worked locally at different jobs in Riverhead and Southampton before she met her future husband, Dr. Dennis D. Claire, at a bar in Southampton. The two were introduced by her late brother John, who worked with Dennis and his brother PJ. Janice and Dennis lived upstate in Rhinebeck for several years and got married at home on 17 July 1976 with services at St. Rosalie in Hampton Bays. After the young death of her brother-in-law PJ in December of 1976, the couple moved back home, living with her in-laws in Jamesport, NY, before building their home in Mattituck in 1978. There, they raised three boys, surrounded by a small community of young parents. Janice found work and a community of friends for over 20 years as a typist for the former Traveler-Watchman Newspaper in Southold. Her husband, Dennis, was an English teacher at Greenport High School until his death in 2004. She lived by herself since then, in the same house they built. In her later years, she shared a special bond with her granddaughter, Natalie, whom she watched regularly for several years. She is survived by her sons: Dennis and his wife, Lindsay, and grandchildren Denny and Ronan; Ryan and his wife, Victoria, and grandchildren Natalie and Patrick; and Patrick and his wife Kathleen and grandchild Maggie. In lieu of flowers, donations in her name can be sent to: St Jude Children’s Hospital, the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias, or Greenport High School Scholarship funds.