03/01/2024
Dear Church Family,
Our lives were touched by a beautiful woman, Janet Richter, even for those who didn't even know her as Janet was a behind the scenes servant for God. She shared her incredible gift of crocheting beautiful prayer shawls and baby blankets for new babies, baking the best decorated sugar cookies, communion bread, filling thousands of Easter eggs for Palm Sunday every year and so much more (see her obituary below)! Today, I share with you that the time has come to celebrate her life along with her family and friends.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at Good Shepherd Gladstone (2800 NE 64th Street, Gladstone, MO 64119) on Saturday, March 9th at 2 pm, per Janet’s request JEANS & T-SHIRTS are required. Janet’s spiritual gifts were in hospitality, service and feeding large groups of people, so all are invited to a BBQ brisket meal immediately following the service. Food is the love language of the Richter clan. You may leave or join in the meal, however you feel comfortable. Janet loved to gather friends and family around the table, so even if you cannot make it to the service, you are welcome to come and eat and share your stories with one another.
The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, memorial gifts be given to the family to help with the cost of end-of-life expenses. You can donate by Venmo at or CashApp at $SimplyWhimsicalJanet or mail to: Karl Richter (508 NE 103rd Street, Apt 4C KC, MO 64155)
Janet's Obituary is here:
A confused soul with a servant’s heart full of hospitality. This is how you should remember Janet Richter. My dear wife passed away on February 22nd while in hospice care. She was a wonderful wife, loving mom and step mom, and amazing grandma. She had been sick and hurting for the last few years and didn’t always express her feelings thoroughly. Janet hated not being strong enough to stand up to help do anything, hated being so uncoordinated she couldn’t crochet, and totally despised being too confused to hold long meaningful conversations. She began to push people away so they wouldn’t miss her when she left, which she failed to do because of all the love in her heart. Angry about her health and our financial plight because of her health, she even tried to quit talking to God, that didn’t work either because she understood that He loved her beyond her deserving, He has a plan and, in the end, she could hardly wait to go home with Jesus.
She served at church of course and was famous for her cookies, baby blankets, and prayer shawls. She would work behind the scenes most of the time not really liking the spotlight. Through the years she created the Meadowbrook nursery rooms with the thought that Noah built and ark and the animals came, so she wanted to build a nursery so the children could come, it worked, not like we thought, but we became a new church, Good Shepherd, with so many more kids they had to knock down the walls of what we built to make it bigger. She did food drives, crayon drives, and helped organize festivals for the church. Outside the walls of the church, she worked with Ronald McDonald House, Hillcrest Ministries, Lazarus Ministries, Childrens Mercy, Kansas City Heroes, Soldiers Angels, and so many other groups through her years. Service, caring and hospitality were her hallmarks, hallmarks she didn’t even know she had. She will be dearly missed.
Janet is survived by her husband Karl and son Aaron, step kids, in-laws, outlaws, & other such people she called family: Amber & Andrew Stewart with grandson Winter, Zachery & Cindy Richter with granddaughters Julianna, Amelia, and Emme, Karl Richter II & Sarah with grandsons and daughters Jonathan, Kai, Victoria, and Emma, Thomas Richter, Erica Lynn and grandson Caleb, her brother Danny Pugh and brother-in-law John Hancock. And a host of other young adults that called her mom.
