Janet Ida Hueckel

Janet Ida (Neal) Hueckel, 97, of Fort Myers, Florida passed away on January 18, 2023 in the comfort of her home.

Janet was born on January 3, 1926 in her family home in DuQuion, Illinois. She was the fifth child of Rachel and George Neal. Sadly, her father and eldest brother died in a car/train accident before she was born. Her mother remarried several years later to Charles Davis. After graduation from DuQuion High School in 1943, she attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. When WWII started she went into the Cadet Nursing Program at Barnes’s Hospital in St. Louis, Mo. She always told the story that “they left the student cadets to run the hospital while the real nurses were overseas". When the war was over, she and her best friend from nursing school went on a double date with two soldiers who were also best friends and a few years later both couples were engaged and married. They remained in contact with each other throughout their lives.

During her engagement to William (Bill) J. Hueckel, Janet made her first trip to Fort Myers with the Hueckels who were frequent winter visitors to the area. She would recall the wooden bridge to Fort Myers Beach and the ferry carrying the cars across to Sanibel Island.

Bill and Janet were married May 16, 1949 and resided in St. Charles a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. During that time Jeanne was born and a year and half later Susan was born. Janet returned to school and graduated from Washington University with a Bachelor Degree in nursing in 1957. She was a member of the Pi Kappa Sorority.

The family moved to Fort Myers in 1957 where their son John was born a few years later. They acquired and managed the Miles Building at 2052 McGregor Boulevard with storefronts at street level and apartments on the second level up until the 1980s. It was built in the 1920s with gas heating and lighting because “they weren’t sure about this new stuff – electricity." The building has changed hands several times, but it was fun for the kids to look back and think they were a part of a Fort Myers landmark.

Janet was a member of First Baptist Church of Fort Myers since 1957. She loved the Women’s Missionary Union and served many years as the President and one year as the State WMU president. She enjoyed teaching Sunday School, serving on the flower committee, working in VBS and many other committees of the church. She was one of the first women deacons ordained by First Baptist Church on October 7, 1990. .

Along with her activities at the church, she enjoyed gardening, quilting, her grandchildren, traveling and making an annual batch of her calamondin/pineapple jam for which she won a Blue ribbon at the Lee County Fair.

A more recent award that she was very proud of was the certificate from Disney World for going on the Rocking Roller Coast and the Tower of Terror when she was in her 80’s!

Even though her home was in Fort Myers, she always enjoyed going back to visit her family in Missouri and Illinois. Combining her love of WMU and travel, she made a trip to China to follow the missionary work of Lottie Moon.

Janet and Bill were together for 31 years until Bill's passing in 1980.

She is survived by her three children : daughter Jeanne of Fort Myers, daughter Susan (Jim) of Fort Myers, and son John (Marisa) of Melbourne, Fl . She is also survived by her grandchildren: Jack Hueckel, Lia Hueckel, Emma Hueckel, Laura Hueckel, Ashley (Forrester) LeBlanc and grand-son-in-law Kyle LeBlanc.