Flag Day loses its biggest backer

Death of Jack Janik leaves community without longtime business leader best known for his love of patriotism

Jack Janik
By 
DAN BENSON
Ozaukee Press Staff

John J. “Jack” Janik is being remembered this week as a friend, mentor, successful businessman and someone who left a large impression on his adopted communities of Waubeka and Fredonia, most notably for reviving the celebration of Flag Day.

Mr. Janik died in his sleep Sunday night. He was 85.

“Jack was a friend to me and to everybody. He was the true definition of a pillar in the community,” Ozaukee County Board Chairman Lee Schlenvogt said. 

“He was a great man. A great leader in the community and just an amazing patriot,” former Ozaukee County Administrator Tom Meaux said. “He was just an institution for the county for so many years, a real leader who galvanized people to appreciate our freedom.

“He was just a very sweet man. Someone you immediately liked and gravitated to.”

Mr. Janik was a prominent businessman in the area as co-owner of Neuens Lumber in Fredonia. He also was active in or supportive of a number of local groups and causes such as the Boy Scouts, Honor Flight and Divine Savior Catholic Church.

Mr. Janik was best known, however, in the community as, if not the man who saved Flag Day in Waubeka, the man who breathed new life into it and put the annual celebration in Waubeka on the map.

Flag Day Foundation Vice President Theresa Kempfer remembered when Janik was asked by John Hanes to lead the foundation in the mid-1990s. 

“It would have collapsed” without Janik, she said.

But instead of collapsing, the Flag Day celebration thrived under Mr. Janik’s indefatigable leadership.

“People don’t realize how much he did,” Mrs. Kempfer said. “He kept things running. He got things done, right up to the end,” noting that Mr. Janik, even though in failing health, organized Flag Day this past summer.

Mr. Janik was extraordinarily passionate about promoting Flag Day and telling the story of how school teacher Bernard Cigrand mobilized the nation to commemorate the adoption of the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777, by the Second Continental Congress.

“He always said he was not a veteran so he felt he needed to work very hard to make up for that,” his son David Janik said in explaining his father’s passion for Flag Day. “He just worked tirelessly at it by building the parade back up and getting dignitaries to come.”

The first Wisconsin governor to attend the event was Tommy Thompson in the mid-1990s, David Janik remembered. 

“Tommy walked right up to me and said, ‘I’m looking for Jack Janik,’” he recalled.

At Mr. Janik’s invitation, Mr. Schlenvogt often appeared in the Flag Day parade or was a featured speaker. 

“Jack was a results person. If he needed you to do something in two weeks, he would call you a week later and make sure you were on it,” Mr. Schlenvogt said.

Mr. Schlenvogt’s wife Pam is a member of the Flag Day Foundation board of directors and worked with Janik to promote the “What the Flag Means to Me” essay contest, which draws hundreds of entries from all over the country every year and awards college scholarships to winning writers.

“He took Flag Day and made it a national event,” Mr. Schlenvogt said. 

Thanks in large part to Mr. Janik’s lobbying, Waubeka was recognized by Congress in 2004 as the official birthplace of Flag Day.

“That was a big day,” David Janik said.

He also engineered the purchase of the former Grandview School and oversaw its conversion into the Americanism Center.

For all Mr. Janik did for Flag Day, Waubeka and the surrounding community, one would think he was a native to the area.

But Mr. Janik was born on Milwaukee’s south side in 1934 and attended Catholic schools, graduating from Notre Dame High School.

That’s where he met his wife, Louise. Their first date was to the prom after a nun made Janik ask Louise to the dance because the nun liked her and she didn’t have a date, David Janik said.

The couple married in 1959 and moved to a 60-acre farm just west of Waubeka shortly after. They added on over the years and now three of the Janik children’s families live on 300 acres, most of which is rented out to farmers.

Early on, Mr. Janik worked for Eaton Corp. but when the company wanted him to move to Carol Stream, Ill., he quit and went to work for Badger Meter, becoming vice president.

In 1977 he bought Neuens Lumber with two partners and left Badger Meter.

Mrs. Kempfer said Mr. Janik was a man of passion.

“He was very kind hearted,” she said. “Sometimes he would get a little upset but he would get over it.”

Mr. Schlenvogt said Mr. Janik was an astute judge of people.

“Jack had an eye for talent. When he talked to an individual he could see if they were a team player and a results person and he would give them opportunities,” he said.

“He was always the first one to tell you what a good job you did. He was a true friend and a wonderful man.”

Besides working on Flag Day, Mr. Janik took on a new project this year helping create the St. Mary’s Foundation to buy the old church in Little Kohler and turn it into a historical museum and community center.

The group bought the property in September from Divine Savior for $20,000, according to the county Register of Deeds Office.

Bob Lallensack, a trustee at Divine Savior, worked with Janik on the purchase.

“Jack did a lot of good in the community,” Mr. Lallensack said. “He was always very upbeat. Very friendly. Very positive.” 

Mr. Lallensack said his wife received a rose from Janik every Mother’s Day.

“That was really nice,” Mr. Lallensack said.

So did many other women in the area, David Janik said.

“The Knights of Columbus do a Mother’s Day rose sale every year and he created a list of women who had done something to make them important to him to send roses to,” his son said. 

“He could be a little forward. But he was so genuine. Everybody just loved him for that,” he said.

David Janik succeeded his father as Flag Day Foundation president two years ago.

“He left some real large footprints to fill. But we’re going to press forward,” he said.

Janik is survived by his wife Louise,   children Karen (Bob) Bertram of Tennessee, David (Melissa), Christopher (Laurie) and Laure (Peter) Borchardt, all of the Town of Fredonia; six grandchildren and one great grandchild.

A Mass of Christian burial will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, at Divine Savior Parish, Holy Cross Chapel, 5330 Hwy. B. 

Visitation at the church will be from noon until the time of the funeral.

A complete obituary will appear in next week’s edition of the Ozaukee Press. 

Eernisse Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.

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Ozaukee Press

Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.

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