Janis Adele Sajovic (Hacker) passed away peacefully at the Glen Hill Center in Danbury, Conn. in the early hours of October 14, 2023. She was 74 years old.

Janis was born February 19, 1949 in Valley Stream, N.Y.

She was predeceased by her parents Alfred Allen Hacker and Raphaella “Fay” Hacker (Maiorino). She was also predeceased by her older brother Robert Hacker, who passed in June 2022. She is survived by her husband of almost 50 years, Frank, two children Megan and Nicholas Sajovic, and several nieces, nephews, cousins, and godchildren.

Janis was a 1967 graduate of Valley Stream South High School. She was an Honors student, active in the drama club and was a member of the pep squad, The Coolettes.

She was a proud 1971 graduate of Syracuse University with a bachelor’s degree in textiles. While on the SU Hill, she was a member of the Alpha chapter of the Alpha Phi sorority, where she served as their treasurer and proudly wore the organization’s colors bordeaux and silver.

After college, she moved to Boston. While out with a group of friends one night she was set up on a blind date with Frank, one of the stops of the night being the infamous “Cheers” (You know ... where everybody knows your name). The two were married August 24th,1974.

Out of the many cities Frank and Janis lived in, Santa Monica, Calif. was by far Janis’ favorite. While living in the Los Angeles area for over 20 years, Janis found work at the Warner Bros Studios as a computer color technician, where she not only spent time converting black and white films to color, but also got to rub elbows with a few movie stars along the way.

Prior to Warner Bros, Janis wove her textiles degree into a computer programming career. For nearly 20 years she worked independently as a certified FORTRAN programmer/analyst. Some of her favorite Los Angeles memories were attending the 1984 Summer Olympics and the Three Tenors, Billy Joel and Elton John concerts. One of her favorite stories to tell was when she watched Muhammad Ali play a prank on Frank at a Bel Air sporting function.

In earlier years, Janis enjoyed traveling and music, most notably The Beatles, attending their first US visit at Shea Stadium. Janis loved baking, crafts such as decoupage, basic jewelry making and scrapbooking, gardening, skiing, sewing, playing endless rounds of solitaire, completing jigsaw puzzles and finding new ways to display them around the home.

She loved her cars, driving her 280Z down the Pacific Coast Highway, and watching various court dramas like Law & Order.

She certainly loved her animals and is now reunited with her previous four-legged sidekicks: Toby and Milly.

She was fond of canning, so much so that she submitted and won blue ribbons in the Los Angeles County Fair for a variety of jams, jellies, and preserves.

Janis was actively involved in the youth sport circuit to support her children and their friends. She was involved in the Bobby Sox Softball League in Santa Monica and in the Babe Ruth Baseball and Softball Leagues in Newtown. Between those three organizations she served a variety of roles: manager, coach, team mom, historian, and supporter. If you played softball on one of her teams in the early 2000s, you probably have an end of year scrapbook on your shelf that she spent hours putting together.

The holidays were very special to Janis and she treated each as a special event. She was a collector of the Department 56 Snow Village set and would transform the house into a winter wonderland every Christmas. One of her favorite holiday pastimes was traveling to Cooperstown, N.Y. during Thanksgiving to see her Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Joe, and cousins Michael, Alan and Joann and their families. Traditions of bringing up carloads of baked goods, Black Friday shopping, and sitting at the Thanksgiving dinner table for hours retelling stories (until it was time to start making sandwiches with the leftovers) will live on.

Friends and family are invited to calling hours on Friday, October 27th from 4 to 7 pm at Honan Funeral Home, 58 Main Street.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday, October 28th at 11:30 am at St Rose of Lima Church, 46 Church Hill Road. Interment will follow in St Rose Cemetery.

Donations can be made to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital: www.stjude.org

To leave an online condolence visit: honanfh.com