Janet Serra, a 53-year resident of Pacific Palisades, died at her home on November 15 from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She was 82. Her funeral Mass was held at Corpus Christi Church on November 19 and she was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. Janet was born at Santa Monica Hospital and was the first girl baptized at the newly formed St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Westwood. She attended St. Monica High School. After graduating from UCLA in 1950, she attended and then taught at the Wright McMahan secretarial school in Beverly Hills, after which she worked for Owens-Illinois Glass Co. She met her husband Norm while they were both students at UCLA, and they built and moved into their home on Ocampo Drive in 1958. They were featured as one of the Palisadian-Post’s ‘Golden Couples’ in 2001 and celebrated their 60th anniversary in May of this year. Norm spent his career in the aerospace industry designing and building inertial navigation systems for aircraft and missiles, including 32 years at Litton Industries. Janet was a full-time devoted mother, raising five children, during which time she was an active volunteer at Corpus Christi church and school. After her children were raised, she joined the Assistance League of Santa Monica, volunteering for years at their thrift shop and nursery school. She was also an active member of P.E.O., a nonprofit organization devoted to putting needy young women through college. Noted for her beauty, her gentleness and her natural social grace, Janet was always cheerful, focused on the bright side of life and on the activities of the moment. ‘She was even grateful for the lightweight Sears and Roebuck lawnmower I gave her for her first Mother’s Day,’ husband Norm recalled. Janet’s world was defined by church, home, family, long-term friends, weekly tennis and the organizations to which she gave so much time. The enjoyment she had in being a mother and homemaker made her home a place of happiness. Her family gatherings and post-parade Fourth of July parties will long be remembered. ’After all this time I still marvel that I was given someone so special for a life partner,’ Norm wrote in a letter to his grandchildren in 2010. ‘God smiled on me. As it says in Proverbs, ‘When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls. Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize.’ I think the author must have had someone like Janet in mind.’ Janet is survived by her husband Norm and five children: Steve (wife Vicky) in Mission Viejo, Maureen (Maureen) in Encino, Joan in Tarzana, Ken (Arleen) in Playa del Rey, and Jack (Joyce) in Camarillo; and four grandchildren, Michael, Annie, Stephanie and Ryan.
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