Janice Ruth Bender (Wintermantel), age 92, passed away peacefully on December 16, 2017, at The Pines Assisted Living Center in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. She was deeply loved and is now survived by her three children: Craig Bender (Christie), Bruce Bender (Judy), Shelley White (Wayne), six grandchildren, and 10 great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents (George and Della Wintermantel), her husband (Gordon), and her sister (Shirley Finger).

Janice was born on November 1, 1925, and grew up in Prairie du Sac. During the height of World War II, she enlisted in the Navy Nurse Cadet Corps and served at the Milwaukee County Veterans Administration Hospital until the end of the war. She married Gordon Bender, her high school sweetheart, in June 1947. They lived in Naperville, Port Washington, Oshkosh, Milwaukee, Fond du Lac, Green Bay, and Appleton as Gordon served a series of Evangelical United Brethren and United Methodist Church appointments. Janice retired to Prairie du Sac in 1981, to the house she grew up in, where she shared her love with family, friends, the members of Concordia United Methodist Church, and her Sauk Prairie community. She found great pleasure in creative crafts, music, literature, cooking and baking, travel and her six grandchildren.

Janice's family would like to thank the exceptional staff at The Pines for the loving care they gave to Jan the last two years, especially these last few weeks.

Services for Janice will be held at Concordia United Methodist Church in Prairie du Sac, at 11:00 am on December 28, 2017. According to her wishes, in lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR), The Ruth Culver Community Library, or The Sauk Prairie Historical Society.