Janelle Pepper Chew

Died of natural causes just a few days before what would have been her 91st birthday. Born to parents Ezra & Roberta Davis in Big Springs, Texas. She grew up in McKinney, Texas and went to college at what was then North Texas State University where she met and married Jim Pepper (James Earl Pepper). Their 1st child, Joani, was born in 1949, followed by Jack in 1950 and their last child, Jeff in 1952.

She graduated from college with a dual degree in English and Art and got her teaching certificate. She started in Grapevine teaching English and then moved to Farmers Branch where she taught at R. L. Turner High School in Carrollton, Texas.

She later moved to Washington DC with then husband Jay Crawley and got involved in Special Education, a field where she spent the rest of her career. She learned to write grant proposals in order to get funding for programs like Head Start and was successful in getting programs started in Houston, TX, Riverton, WY, and Harlingen, TX.

She met the love of her life, Paul Chew, in Houston and after they married, followed his dream of living in the mountains and moved to Dubois, WY. Although they were in their mid-50’s when they moved there, they learned to ride snowmobiles and dad became a horseback hunting guide. They also started RV’ing and went to Alaska twice, and covered most of the western United States. They returned to Texas living 1st in Harlingen, then moving to Bastrop where they lived until the fire of 2011 that burned their house to the ground along with about 1665 other family homes. From there they moved to Wimberley, TX where Paul had spent summers as a child. They spent the rest of their years in San Marcos.

She was predeceased by her parents, Ezra and Roberta Davis, her older brother Bill Davis, and younger sister Joan Greene. She is survived by her husband of over 30 years, G. Paul Chew, her three children: Joani Pepper, Jack Pepper& his wife Tara Denys, and Jeff Pepper and his wife Joy. Plus grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews too numerous to list.

No services are planned at this time due to the covid pandemic.