Janet Lisiewski

Janet Turner Lisiewski, known to all as “Jan,” died in Weatherford, Texas, on Nov. 23, 2013, after a long bout with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 74 years old. Born in Houston, Texas, to Jack Leroy and Billie Kathryn Turner on Feb. 13, 1939, Jan grew up and attended school in Cleburne, Texas, graduating at Cleburne High School in 1957. During her school years, Jan and her younger sister, Anne, lived across the street from Cleburne High and the house was a gathering place for her friends and extended family.
In 1959, Jan married Billy “Bill” Alexander Leonard of Cleburne at First Baptist Church Cleburne where she was a life-long member. Bill and Jan had three children, Ben Dodson Leonard, Bake Roberts Leonard and Mollie Kathryn Renforth nee Leonard. Jan married Thomas Franklin Murski in 1969. Tom and Jan had one child, William Matthew Murski.
Though she held various jobs during her lifetime, including real estate sales, retail clothing sales and retail property management, Jan saw her life’s work as rearing her four children with love and an eye toward their salvation in Christ. Every morning she made breakfast and school lunches for four kids, enclosing notes with words of encouragement and scripture specific to each child’s needs at the time. At breakfast the children took turns reading a chapter a day from the Bible. Sundays and Wednesday nights were reserved for church services at First Baptist and it was the rarest of occasions when the entire family were not present.
Among Jan’s favorite scriptures are:
Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 10:27-30 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Jan loved her extended family and was blessed that so many of them lived in Cleburne. Her happiest days were spent at family gatherings on Christmas, Thanksgiving and Sunday afternoons after church. She also enjoyed spending time at the “Farm,” the Brazos riverfront property of her grandfather George William “Pop” Roberts.
Jan lived for many years on Forrest Avenue in Cleburne and her kitchen became a meeting place for the friends she had known since childhood. It was there they solved their own and the world’s problems, both large and small. From time to time when bad weather threatened during the school day the ladies would make the rounds from Coleman Elementary to Cleburne High, gathering up their children to bring them home safely. The kids were used to being called to the principal’s office any time the weatherman mentioned the word “tornado.”
Jan is survived by her sister, Anne Turner of Benbrook, Texas; son, Ben and his wife, Stacy Leonard, of Fort Worth, Texas; daughter, Mollie and her husband, James Renforth II, and their children, Grace and Emily, of Willow Park, Texas, and son, William Matthew Murski and his daughter, Rowan, of Brenham, Texas; as well as nieces and nephews, their children and a host of friends and extended family whom she loved so very much.
Preceding Jan in death were her parents and her beloved son, Bake Roberts Leonard.
Jan’s funeral services will be held at First Baptist Church Cleburne on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2013, at 10 o’clock with a graveside service at Rosehill Cemetery immediately following.
Visitation for friends and family will be at Rosser Funeral Home on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2013, from 5 – 6 p.m.
The family is grateful to Jan’s friends and honorary pallbearers, John Ed King, Dr. Bill Ward, Dr. Ben Hill Jones, John MacLean, Tom Dodge, Richard Dickerson and Ben Hill Turner.
The family asks with gratitude that in lieu of flowers memorials in Jan’s name be made to First Baptist Church Cleburne, a charity dedicated to Alzheimer’s disease research or any cause which assists people in need. Jan’s family is also very grateful to the caring people at Peach Tree Place in Weatherford, Texas, and Grace Hospice.