Janet Wallace Ullmann, 96, of Lake Forest, IL passed away at 7:45 a.m. Monday, September 3, 2001 at Lake Forest Place. A resident of Lake Bluff since 1937 and Lake Forest since 1996. She was born on June 23, 1905 in Saltillo, Mexico. Daughter of William and Mary McQuat Wallace who were serving as Missionaries for the Presbyterian Church. Until the age of eight she lived in her parents mission school in Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City. In 1913 as a consequence of the Mexican Revolution, she relocated with her mother and siblings to Palo Alto, CA. After graduating from Palo Alto H.S. she attended Stanford University and the University of Chicago where she graduated in 1927. Following graduation Janet studied in Paris and than taught spanish & french at the secondary level in Lake Forest and LaJolla, CA. She married Stuart Ullmann on April 30, 1931 in Chicago. After living in Chicago and then Lake Forest they moved to Lake Bluff in 1937 where they raised a family of four children. The family traveled together to Europe on several occasions in the 1950’s. When the nest was empty she and her husband Stuart traveled extensively in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa. Shortly after a hiking trip in Nepal in 1969 her husband passed away. Janet was active in the World Federalists, a past President of the League of Womens Voters of Lake Bluff-Lake Forest and taught in the Waukegan Head Start Program. With her husband she joined the Civil Rights Movement at its beginning, corresponding with Martin Luther King Jr., marching in Washington and other major demonstrations, and meeting with many South African leaders of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. At the age of 86 she went to Nicaragua as a Witness For Peace participant in a blockade of US Arms intended for the Contras. She was a longtime member of the Lake Forest Meeting ‘Quakers’, attending regularly until last month. She is survived by her daughter Mary U. Kruse, of Urbana, IL and three sons Thomas S. Ullmann of Kenilworth, IL, Laurence E. Ullmann, of Acton, MA and Stuart E. Ullmann Jr., of Boulder, CO.; 12 grandchildren; four great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, September 9 at the Lake Forest Meeting at Old Elm and Ridge Roads, 1 block W. of Skokie, Hwy 41 (Edens), between Hwy 22 and Westleigh Rd. Donations in her memory may be made to the American Friends Service Committee. Contact Thomas Ullmann at 847-853-9401 for more information.
