Jan Richau, 74, passed away on Tuesday evening, June 10, 2008, in Billings, after a short stay in the hospital.

Janis Ione Hendricks was born in Bismarck, N.D., on July 17, 1933, to Carroll Wesley Hendricks and Vera Henrietta Goodlaxon. As the daughter of a traveling salesman, she would pack her little suitcase and go off on a world of adventure with Dad. She was an only child for 13 years, and when her parents started their “second family,” she was starting her first. Becky, Michelle and Tim were growing up at the same time as her own three children.

She met her soul mate, Lavio Richau, in 1948, and at age 16, they married in Red Lodge, on Sept. 16, 1949, and remained wed until his death in 2003. They started a family right away and had three children, Greg, Kevin and Ellen. Jan worked as a nursing assistant before completing a degree in elementary education at the Eastern Montana College. She taught in Billings at Miles Avenue Elementary school and Taft, where she became principal. She continued in school administration as the principal of McKinley Elementary and opened the new Alkali Creek Elementary School in the Billings Heights.

During much of the ’60s, Jan and Lavio leased Lake Elmo and managed the recreation area and concessions. Summers at Lake Elmo were memorable times for the family. In the ’70s, Jan became a grandmother as her kids all started families of their own. In the ’80s they managed the “Last Stand Eatery” at Custer Battlefield with Greg and Debbie. After retiring from the Billings school system, she and Lavio moved to Tempe, Ariz., in the late ’80s, and — never content with “just sitting” — she worked as a middle school administrator in the Kyrene district. She and Lavio spent time with friends at their cabin in the White Mountains of Arizona. The cabin was a “labor of love” — never quite finished.

Jan had many hobbies, including quilting, sewing Christmas ornaments for the grandkids every year, reading and collecting antiques (she had an eye for treasures). She made lifelong friends through church, school, travel, the Mustang Club, dancing and the Red Hat Society. Later in life, she volunteered at the Elks club for many years and relished seeing her family grow every year.

Jan is survived by her children, Greg and Debbie Richau, Kevin and Pam Richau, and Brittany Sears; her grandchildren, Josh, Mandy, Ben, Sienna and Shawna; and great-grandchildren, Brittany, who was adopted by Jan, Kaylan, Dakota, Ayden, Isabella, Elsie, Adrik and Saffron. She is also survived by her siblings, Becky Hendricks Scripps (Ed), Tim Hendricks (Kathy) and Michelle Konzen (David). She was preceded in death by her husband of 54 years, Lavio; her daughter, Ellen; and her grandson, Shayne.

Jan was cremated at the Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary. A memorial service will be held Saturday, July 12, at the Faith Chapel at 517 Shiloh Road in Billings at 10 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations in Jan’s name to the American Diabetes Association, www.diabetes.org, the American Heart Association, www.americanheart.org, or Big Sky Hospice, www.ycchd.org/hospice.