Janet C. (Chapdelaine) Roberts

Relatives and Friends are invited to attend her memorial service at 12:00 NOON, on Saturday, November 19, at the NEWPORT Lodge of Elks, 141 Pelham St., Newport RI 02840.

Janet C. (Chapdelaine) Roberts, 82, of Fall River, passed away Sunday, October 23, 2022.  A spiritual person and free spirit, Janet practiced Sukyo Mahikari (a Japanese new religion) and shared good humor and a big smile with everyone she met.

Janet was born and raised in Fall River, MA along with her parents Normand and Jeannette (Plante) Chapdelaine and her many siblings. Janet was the oldest of 15. They resided on the third floor of her grandmother’s multi-family home. Her grandmother was quite the entrepreneur and owned the block they lived on which included a hair salon and market they would frequent. Her father owned Montaup Dairy and Chapdelaine & Sons General Contractors, and her brothers would work in the field with dad while she helped mom with the administrative work and raising her siblings. Being French Canadian, Janet spoke French fluently. She also took classes while attending grade/middle school at St. Anne's Parish and high school at Dominican Academy. After graduating high school Janet started a job at St. Anne’s Hospital in the operating room sterilizing equipment. She moved up to Assistant of Operations in the Tonsil and Adenoid department. After working for St. Anne’s for a while Janet secured a job at Raytheon in Dighton where she was a typist. Around the age of 18/19 Janet fell ill with mystery gastrointestinal issues. She was being treated at Lahey Clinic.

In 1959 she made the move to Boston with two friends and got a job offer at Lahey clinic interviewing patients – knowing French proficiently worked in her favor. Janet loved living in Boston. She had a lot more freedom and found her independence. She had a great job, started dating, and was enjoying life. In 1963 Janet became so ill and was quickly losing weight which led her to move back home to Fall River. She started seeing a physician in her city who was from Chicago and who eventually diagnosed and treated her for Celiac Disease. In 1965 Janet packed up and drove cross-country in her friend Diana’s 1965 Ford Mustang to San Francisco, California. Janet said she had never seen anything like it before, it was where “it was all happening” and more of “her vibe”. She worked as a secretary at a local radio station where she met her first husband Steve who also worked there as an Engineer. They wed in 1967 and had their daughter Jillian (AKA Kila) in 1968. They moved to the magical mountain town of Truckee in Lake Tahoe. In time they moved back to San Francisco and opened the first Birkenstock store where Janet would fit customers. In 1975 Janet and Steve decided to separate.

After her divorce, she got certified to teach yoga and managed a yoga center. This is where she met her second husband Julian in 1993. They shared many of the same interests and in her words had the “love of a lifetime”. At one time they moved back to her hometown for a while to be closer to family, but eventually divorced. Janet moved to Hawaii to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren Koa and Acacia where she would stay for the next 20 years. Her ex-husband Steve, who she always maintained a good relationship with and has since passed, also resided in Hawaii. She truly loved Hawaii and all of the friendships she made there. In 2022 Janet made the move back to Massachusetts to be closer to family. She moved to Whaler’s Cove Assisted Living, New Bedford and although it was a different lifestyle to the one she was used to, she adjusted and made friends. She was getting into Tai-Chi and enjoyed attending musical performances in the community. Janet always considered herself to be a free spirit. She said she lived a hippie lifestyle having moved around a lot. She had lived in Fall River, Boston, California, Indiana, Arizona and Hawaii. She even experienced the trip of a lifetime to Paris with her daughter Kila. Janet had a passion for astrology, cooking, watching movies, meditating, and doing yoga. She was so happy to be closer to family and making memories with them. Today we say goodbye to a good soul who lived and loved freely.

She was the mother of Jillian “Kila” Miller; the grandmother of Stephen Koa Miller and Acacia Kapualani Miller; the daughter of the late Normand H. and Jeannette (Plante) Chapdelaine; the sister of Paul N. Chapdelaine (wife Karen), Robert C. Chapdelaine (wife Cathy), Gerald E. Chapdelaine, Suzanne Mellor (husband Brian), William A. Chapdelaine (wife Tracy), Thomas A. Chapdelaine (wife Debra), Rachel Chapdelaine (husband Carl Pereira), Elaine M. Chapdelaine (husband Robert Burgess), Denise A. Chapdelaine (spouse Cecilia Smith), Diane Pereira (partner Mark Miller), Lynne Chapdelaine and the late Richard A. Chapdelaine (wife April “Cookie”), Christopher Royce Chapdelaine and Roger R. Chapdelaine (wife Sue); the former wife of the late Stephen Roberts, the stepmother of the late Frank Roberts and the former mother-in-law of  Erwin K. Miller.

Relatives and Friends are invited to attend her memorial service at 12:00 NOON, on Saturday, November 19, at the NEWPORT Lodge of Elks, 141 Pelham St., Newport RI 02840.