Janet Bregman Taney

I first met Janet in the late 1970's. She and Peter had just graduated from University of Pennsylvania and John and I were running a folk music magazine called The Folk Life. I met them in their West Philadelphia co-op apartment. John had previously met them at Gene Shays show. We soon became good friends and Peter and Janet became constant collaborators in our Folk Life adventure. We went on to do fiddle contests and folk music camps with groups like The New Lost City Ramblers and the Green Grass Cloggers but Juggernaut String Band was at the center of each event. I think Janet was working for Buckminster Fuller at the time and once a week Peter called extremely successful square dances at International House on the Penn campus and often participated in very hip psyco-drama at The Painted Bride Art Center. They were an exciting couple to know.

In the early 1980's we left Philadelphia for the Poconos and we lost touch with Peter and Janet for a while. In 1989 A Family of Artists had just begun running summer camps for community children with children with developmental disabilities and mental health diagnosis mainstreamed into the mix of busy, art producing kids. Very early in our talks with The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (who co-sponsored the first year and most of the 9 others that followed), Bill Daniels, the program director in Harrisburg, told us we had to check out this couple from Philadelphia who did tremendous work with at risk kids. It was, of course, Janet and Peter, and we were reunited. Every year for the next seven they came to Stroudsburg or East Stroudsburg schools or The Castle Inn for a magic week to make amazing instruments from numerous world cultures out of coke bottles or toilet paper tubes with the kids who were in awe. Even the "coolest" campers were seen clogging up a storm. Janet was always able to calmly encourage, protect, nurture and enlighten the talented but fragile children who were attracted to her.

In 1995 when A Family of Artists spun off A Family of Artists the Works, with the help of social service agencies and medicaid, we were able to hire a group of full time artists. The first call was to Janet. To my surprise they were willing to pull up stakes and move with their young daughter, Joy to resettle in the Poconos. What a blessing for the Poconos that was. Janet ran a writing lab and offered security to little, abused, artists so that they could dictate to her previously secret stories that were shocking to us and healing to them. Time after time I would hear kids chasing Janet around the room saying, "Write this down. Write this down." Children who barely spoke learned to use the computer software she offered and make their own books. Children who were never expected to read began to take their first, proud steps toward literacy alongside many of the truly gifted children of the region who came to take part in Janet's state of the art workshops.

A Family of Artists did not survive much longer when Medicaid funding was removed as quickly as it was initially offered, but we had Janet and Peter with us then and the area was already taking full advantage of their presence. My "second Mom", Gerta Hariton, became Janet's "second Mom". My long time friend, Janet, had become a close friend to my more recent friends and we all were richer from the collaborations that came out of the mix. After A Family of Artists, as I looked for the next challenge life would bring me, I was not sure what that challenge would be, but I knew that I wanted to pursue it with Janet as my working partner. Her professionalism, her brilliance, her creativity and the pleasure of her company were just what I needed to start on any new venture. Even after moving to the DC area about a year and a half ago, I expected that we would work together in some way as we had for so long; but then her illness struck.

When she was first diagnosed with this brain tumor she spent part of a week with us in our new home. Despite the fear she must have been feeling, she delighted in all we experienced together - the birds at the feeder, the Afgan Restaurant. She joked about the hallucinations brought on by her tumor telling me that the popular mystic authors we all read in the 60's saw these great visions, but "what could she learn from a hallucinated ceiling fan?" We went to the Smithsonian Folk Festival where the Voodoo ceremonies of Haiti brought tears to her eyes. She said she felt so blessed to be able to witness such special, usually secret rites. She knew all about the Haitian folklore as well as the Latino and Maritime features of the festival that year. I was not surprised as Janet's incredible intellect and knowledge base were things I had come to expect.

When I talked to her after her last surgery a few weeks ago she could not speak very well but she read me the poetry she wrote about her new disabilities. I'm sorry I am not there to join the circle of friends surrounding Peter, Janet and Joy at this time. It should be expected that someone who cared so for others would have so many friends waiting for the chance to care for her. Even as they bring their friendship offerings to her in the hospice, they will go home with the greater gift.

We lost Janet on Thanksgiving Day. Her friends gathered around Peter, Joy and her sisters on Sunday, November 27th to remember her with tributes, song and affection for each other...just as she would have wanted it.