Janet K. Ferrell

Janet K. Ferrell died peacefully on Wednesday April 6, 2016 at the Baptist Home where she had been admitted following complications related to a fall. She was the widow of Paul Delmer Ferrell and the daughter of the late George A. & Marie E. Neesham. Janet was a brilliant and talented woman. She was graduated with many honors from the University of Pittsburgh and received her Master's Degree from Smith College. She went on for additional studies in Paris-languages at Sorbonne and music under Natalie Boulanger at the Fontainbleau Conservatoire Americain des Arts. She spoke five languages and played seven musical instruments, the organ and flute being her favorites. For over thirty years Janet taught French and Spanish in the Mt. Lebanon High School and Andrew Mellon Junior High School. She was also an entertainer in  Pittsburgh and New York. She was a radio-TV producer for KDKA-TV and for the University of Pittsburgh Department of Public Relations and the School of Medicine. She sometimes provided musical accompaniment for the program Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. While working at the Carnegie Institute she was publicity director for the 1964 Pittsburgh International Art Exhibit and organized and administered the first Carnegie International Film Festival. She was a Deacon at the Southminster Presbyterian Church, was on the Board of Directors for Music For Mt. Lebanon and was active in the Keynotes of Mt. Lebanon where she organized their scholarship competition auditions for young musicians. She was a Dame of the Conferie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs and a member of the Pike Run Country Club. She is deeply mourned by her cousins; Grace Mushrush M.D. of Boston, David K.E. Mushrush of Alexandria, VA and Michael Neesham of Chadds Ford, PA and by her nieces and nephews George Ferrell, Joann Vosburgh, Clyde Ferrell, Virginia Ross, Susan Bosco and Robert Shakespeare; her many friends including Joseph Bonadio, a musical colleague and friend since they studied music together under Maxwell Adkins, seventy-four years ago. Interment private. A Memorial Service will be held at 10:00 AM on Saturday April 30 in the Southminster Presbyterian Church 799 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Keynotes Scholarship Fund c/o Lynn Hagan, 1910 Cochran Road Suite 405, Pittsburgh, PA 15220.

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