Kathleen Joan Jankoviak

Kathleen Joan Jankoviak, known to her family as a devoted wife, mother, and matriarch, died on November 7, 2026, in Niles, Michigan, the community where she had lived her entire life. She was 82 years old. Her passing was announced through an obituary published by Brown Funeral Home and Cremation Services of Niles, which described her as passing peacefully, in the same community where she was born and spent her life surrounded by family, faith, and love.

Kathleen was born on July 14, 1944, in Niles, Michigan, to Harold and Katherine (Connors) Payne. She grew up in a large family herself and carried those values into adulthood. On July 15, 1961, at a ceremony in Niles, she married Jon Donald Jankoviak, who worked for many years in accounting and was active in his church. The couple went on to raise fourteen children together in Niles, and Jon preceded her in death in 2017 after more than fifty five years of marriage.

Kathleen spent most of her adult life as a homemaker, a role that in her case meant raising and guiding fourteen children, and later welcoming dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren into the family. According to her obituary, she poured her heart into raising her fourteen children, and her life was described as a living example of service, sacrifice, and steadfast faith. She was not a public figure in the conventional sense, but within Niles and the wider Jankoviak family, she was widely known and respected as the matriarch of one of the area's largest and most tightly knit families.

Her death came less than a year after the family endured another loss: her son Christopher Joseph Jankoviak died in a car accident in December 2025, and her grandson Johnathon Michael Jankoviak had died earlier in 2025 as well. These losses were still fresh for the family at the time of Kathleen's death. No cause of death has been made public for Kathleen herself, and her obituary does not specify one, focusing instead on her life and legacy.

Kathleen is survived by her surviving children, including Jon Jankoviak of Dowagiac, Cynthia Cashier, Constance Jankoviak, David Jankoviak, Daniel Jankoviak, Andrew Jankoviak, Tricia Applegate, Rebecca Asmus, and others, along with forty three grandchildren and fifty three great-grandchildren, with more expected. A service celebrating her life is due to be held on Monday, November 9, 2026, at 3:00 p.m., arranged through Brown Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Niles.