Joseph Janas

Joseph Edward Janas was born in Central Falls, Rhode Island—a town so compact at one square mile that it held dubious records for most mills, most bars, and most bathrooms per capita. His father served as the town's longtime solicitor and municipal judge and his mother was a rental property magnate, but Joe's heart was never in the city. It belonged to his grandmother's garden plot, to the family lake house in Foxboro, and eventually to the University of Rhode Island, where he studied agriculture.

After a brief detour as a high school teacher, Joe found his calling at Old Fox Chemical in East Providence. There, he married his two passions—chemistry and dirt—and spent decades as an agronomist, serving farmers across New England. He worked until the very hour of his death, his final worry being that he was letting his farmers down. He wasn't.
In between, Joe did the appropriate things. He served in the Rhode Island National Guard, retiring as a Sergeant. He raised a family in Foxboro and then made a home in Rehoboth. He built several follies all involving several cupola and inadvisable quantities of concrete and fieldstone.

Joe loved his children—Michael, Edie, and his departed son Russ—as well as his stepchildren, Jim Maymon and Tracey Mefford. He loved boats, farms, roaring fires, and towering woodpiles. He loved the smell of mortar and the heft of stone. He loved his colleagues and his farmers.

He hated heights, especially bridges and ladders. He hated mud. He hated the smell of manure and soured milk. He especially hated poison ivy—a personal enemy—as well as the unbearable free time that came with vacation.
But the bulk of his heart belonged to his departed wife Gail, whom he cared for at home through seven years of Alzheimer's disease. That was Joe: steady hands, stubborn love, and soil beneath his feet until the end.

Joe leaves behind a brother John and sister Joanne Bell. He is also survived by nine grandchildren and a growing list of great grandchildren.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend a memorial visitation from 9 - 11 am on October 3, 2026 at Duffy-Poule Funeral Home, 20
Peck Street,Attleboro, MA. A funeral
service will be held immediately after the visitation at 11 am at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Future Farmer’s of America program at the Norfolk County Agricultural School. Checks can be made payable to NCAHS FFA and mailed to:
NCAHS FFA, 400 Main St. Walpole, MA 02081

Or online via Zeffy: https:///www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/give-ffa