Janice was born on March 9, 1933, in Ephraim, Utah, the second daughter of John C. Larsen and Jeanette Sorensen Larsen. A standout student at Ephraim High School, Janice became the valedictorian of her class at Snow College in Ephraim, graduating with a degree in political science, and completed her BA with Honors at Brigham Young University.

She met her husband, Ralph Reynolds, while teaching in Colorado, and after marriage, the couple moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where Ralph completed a master’s degree in journalism. Afterward, they moved to the Quad Cities, first to East Moline and later Moline, Illinois, while Ralph worked for Deere and Co. They raised four daughters.

In the Quad Cities, Janice became a quiet political force, leading the local chapter of the League of Women Voters and spearheading many get-out-the-vote campaigns. She took her young daughters to rallies for the Equal Rights Amendment and encouraged them to volunteer for state and presidential political campaigns.

She became an essential and welcome presence in the Quad Cities cycling community, too, completing RAGBRAI and many other local rides, as well as international cycling trips with a close group of friends. She volunteered at local races, cheered for her children and grandchildren when they took up cycling, and continued to ride well into her 70s.

Janice also taught sociology at Blackhawk Community College and was an accomplished seamstress, designing and sewing wedding dresses for her daughters and baby blankets for dozens of delighted new parents.

Janice is survived by her brother, John C. Larsen, and sister Nancy Zamora, and her daughters Gretchen Reynolds, Ingrid Niesman, Willa Reynolds, and Mary Reynolds, as well as her grandchildren, Moira Niesman and Maxwell Thurston.

“She was a quiet spitfire,” her daughter Mary says.

A private family remembrance will be held in September.