Janis Vaughn McNeely

Janis Vaughn McNeely, 77, of Nashville, died Easter Sunday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from complications of multiple myeloma.

She was predeceased by her parents, W.T. (Tommy) Vaughn and Marie Land Vaughn, and her brother, William Thomas Vaughn Jr.

She is survived by her husband of 44 years, Mark McNeely; sons Patrick Richardson (Beverly), Brentwood, Eric (Rebecca), Nolensville, Jason (Elise), Nashville and Tim (Tracie) McNeely, Nolensville, and daughter Kelly (Brian) Brockman, Bellevue.

Janis was born April 7, 1948, in Paris, Tenn., and graduated from E.W. Grove High School in 1966. She attended UT-Martin and Memphis State University.

She began her long and successful career as a mortgage banker working as a loan processor in Memphis for Lomas & Nettleton, at the time one of the most widely known home loan companies in the Southeast. She rose to loan originator and office manager there before taking a job with First Tennessee Bank Mortgage in Nashville to be closer to her parents and future husband.

During her 25-year career there, she worked as a branch manager, vice president and senior vice president. She served as president of the Nashville Mortgage Bankers Association in 1996 and was appointed by former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen to the board of directors of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency from 2000 to 2007. Her successes as a mortgage professional were driven by a customer-first approach of service before and after the sale, advocating for the best possible terms, and working long hours which led to continual referrals and repeat business from borrowers and real estate agents alike.

She retired in 2007 just in time to miss major disruptions in the financial upheavals of 2008 but quickly dived into volunteer activities including work with the YWCA to help free Gaile Owens, the victim of domestic violence whose death sentence was commuted.

Her activities slowed considerably after her myeloma diagnosis in the fall of 2018. Enduring many periods of debilitating pain and discomfort, multiple surgeries and procedures, she nonetheless showed a brave resolve and good humor through it all. Janis loved truth, travel, Radnor Lake, Seven Deadly Zins, the beach, Broadway plays, Vols football and Memphis Tigers basketball, her successive pooches – Salem, Amos, Max, Buddy and Bo – wardrobe updates from Zelda’s, John Baptiste, and bragging on her children and grandchildren. And her grand niece and nephew. And Angela Lansbury in Murder She Wrote.

She intensely disliked pretenses, falsehoods, bullying, vanity, scary movies and inflated egos.

She could be blunt but was loyal to a fault. She cherished, and was cherished, by elementary school friends Molly Hunsucker, Kathy Portis and Suzanne Smith, and her Memphis “bestie,” Linda Sowell.

She was the constant cheerleader and supporter of her husband Mark’s sometimes Quixotic ideas, but as the banker in the family, she pretty much never let those dreams get out of hand.

The family would like to thank the caretakers and friends who spent so much quality time caring for Janis, including Patricia Reese, Jessi Grant and Molly Hunsucker.

Other survivors include her grandchildren, Neil and Clay Richardson, Nashville; Connor, Madeline, Daxton and Ronan McNeely, Nolensville; Lander McNeely, Chattanooga; Austin and Ella Brockman, Bellevue; and Dylan and Olivia Hooper, Nashville; sister-in- law, Denise Vaughn, niece, Caroline Johnson; grandniece Honey Johnson and grandnephew Vaughn Johnson, all of Gatlinburg; and first cousin Elise Myers of Paris.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be sent to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation or a charity of choice.

Visitation will be Friday, April 10 at 10 a.m. with a Celebration of Life at noon at Vine Street Christian Church, 4101 Harding Pike, with the Rev. Stephanie Dodge presiding.

Graveside services will be held Sunday, April 12 at 1:30 p.m. at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Paris, with the Rev. Caren Teichmann officiating. Ridgeway Funeral Home of Paris is handling the arrangements.