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Carole A. Janiczek, former aide to Pa. State Rep. Mary Ann Arty-Majors, dies at 76

Mrs. Janiczek assisted Mary Ann Arty-Majors as she took on a series of high-profile political jobs in Pennsylvania. They were an effective team.

Mrs. Janiczek was active in politics and at home and as a volunteer for many organizations.
Mrs. Janiczek was active in politics and at home and as a volunteer for many organizations.Read moreCourtesy of the Janiczek Family

Carole A. Janiczek, 76, of Springfield, Delaware County, a former aide to Republican Pennsylvania State Rep. Mary Ann Arty-Majors and a dedicated civic volunteer, died Monday, July 13, of renal failure at Bryn Mawr Hospital.

Mrs. Janiczek’s career closely followed that of Arty-Majors, a prominent Delaware County political figure. In 1978, when Arty-Majors ran for election as a Republican to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, Mrs. Janiczek managed her successful political campaign, said daughter Carole Krauter.

The two women were close friends and each other’s fans. “Mary Ann was the type of person who would remember you after meeting you only one time,” Mrs. Janiczek said of her protégée in a 2000 Inquirer article. “She did a lot of good for a lot of people in Delaware County.”

Her daughter said the two accomplished a lot together, especially in the area of health and safety issues.

With Mrs. Janiczek’s help, Arty-Majors was reelected to four more consecutive terms in the 165th Legislative District, which encompasses Morton and parts of Springfield, Marple, and Radnor townships. Mrs. Janiczek served as her legislative aide. The two pushed successfully for safety seats for young children in cars.

“They both worked very hard,” her daughter said.

In 1988, Arty-Majors did not seek a sixth term in order to run for election to Delaware County Council.

Arty-Majors served on the council from 1989 to 1996, including five years as council chair, with Mrs. Janiczek as her administrative assistant. Arty-Majors then was appointed director of the Delaware County Department of Human Services in 1996, again, with Mrs. Janiczek by her side. Arty-Majors moved to Florida in 1998 and died there two years later.

In the absence of her friend, Mrs. Janiczek kept working as an administrative assistant in the Human Services Department until retiring in 2006.

Mrs. Janiczek was a frequent, high-profile volunteer in Springfield Township. As part of her political job, she was a longtime Republican committee member and president of the Springfield Council of Republican Women from 1978 to 1990.

She was a Red Cross Blood Drive coordinator from 1995 to 2000 through the Delaware County Department of Human Services and was a volunteer for the American Cancer Society daffodil program, a fund-raising event.

She served on the committee that successfully pushed to make kindergarten part of the Springfield School District in 1972, served as a homeroom mother from 1971 to 1977, and was a Sabold School library aide.

She was the Sabold Home & School Association president from 1976 to 1977 and the E.T. Richardson Home & School vice president for the following two years.

Mrs. Janiczek was a Brownie troop leader and a Girl Scout coordinator in the mid-1970s and a Bicentennial Celebration hostess at the historic Coppock House on Springfield Road in 1976.

In the late 1970s, she was secretary of the Springfield Business & Professional Women’s Club and became its president from 1989 to 1991.

She raised funds for the Heart Association of Delaware County, the Springfield Lioness Club, and the March of Dimes.

Born in Memphis to Nicholas and Olive Reardon Varano, she moved with family to Drexel Hill at age 8. She graduated from the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in 1960. She earned a 1964 bachelor’s degree in education from what is now Cabrini University.

In 1964, she married Lee Janiczek, a teacher at Chester High School. They had two children whom they raised in Springfield.

She enjoyed traveling, gardening, tending family pets, and being a member of the Lit Wits Book Club.

Besides her husband and daughter, she is survived by a son, Lee; a sister; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

Services will be private.

Memorial donations may be made to the Providence Animal Center, 555 Sandy Bank Rd., Media, Pa. 19063.