Janet Rae Edmunds, the daughter of Charles and Ruth (Barie) Edmunds, was born on July 13, 1938, in Spencer, Iowa. Janet grew up in Spencer and Spirit Lake, Iowa. She graduated from Spirit Lake High School in 1956.
On August 20, 1961, Janet married Wayne V Paulsen in Hartley, Iowa. Following their marriage, they lived in Spencer from 1961 to 1963. They then moved to a home they built in Fostoria, Iowa, where they lived from 1963 to 2020. After Wayne’s death in 2020, Janet moved to back to Spirit Lake, where she lived among friends and family.
Janet worked at Berkley & Co in Spirit Lake, from 1956-1973, when she took a break to be home with her daughter Kim, from 1973-1978. In 1978, she went back to work at Wonder Whip in Fostoria, where she worked until 1997. She worked at Cycle Country in Milford from 1998 to her retirement in 2000.
Janet was an active member in the church and the American Legion Auxiliary in Spirit Lake. She was a life member of the DAV Auxiliary and enjoyed volunteering and fundraising in her retirement years.
Janet loved snowmobiling and camping with family and with her camping club. She loved the outdoors, bird watching, gardening, biking and nature walks.
Janet was preceded in death by her parents, Charles and Ruth Edmunds; her husband, Wayne Paulsen; sister, Delores Wills; and brother-in-law, Fred Arndt. Left to cherish her memory are daughter, Kim Paulsen (David Howe) and granddaughter, Stephanie Giddings; sisters, Joan Browning (Leonard Browning), Edith Arndt, Pam Edmunds; and brother, Frank Edmunds, as well as many nieces and nephews, cousins and friends.
