Janis Elaine Pettit

Janis Pettit was born in Napa, CA, to Louis Henderson Pettit and Virginia Genevieve Pettit (Smith ) in 1954, and raised in Fairfield, Indio, and Bakersfield. After graduating from West High in 1972, she moved to the Bay Area to begin a career in sales with Savin Corporation and later with 3DO, a computer graphics company. After 22 years, she moved to Santa Barbara to be closer to her elderly parents, and was employed by Investec, where she worked in HR for another 25 years.

Janis met her future husband, Christian Martinez, through mutual friends in 1996, and they were together for 30 happy years. Janis found joy in being near the ocean, and in jewelry-making, theatre-going, travel, her beloved cats, and staying in close touch with her friends and family members.

After her diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and subsequent dementia, Janis met the difficult challenges of the next 12 years with characteristic resilience and fierce determination. Christian is deeply grateful to her devoted caregivers: Merilyn, Juanita, Dana, and Noemi. She is survived by her loving husband, Christian; her brother Jim and his wife, Brenda, and their children Jimmy, Stephen, and Linda; her sister Jeri; her brother Tommy and his wife, Sandy; and all the grandnieces and grandnephews. She will be greatly missed by her family and many friends from the Bay Area, Bakersfield, and Santa Barbara.