Janet Thies

Janet Maria Thies, 60, of Poplar Bluff, died Thursday, March 20, 2003, at St. John's Mercy Hospital in St. Louis.

She was born Jan. 30, 1943 at Charleston, daughter of Austin and Sylvia Seib. She and William "Bill" Thies Jr., were married May 30, 1963.

She and her husband operated Thies Secretarial and Answering Service for 26 years. Stricken with polio at age 2, she served as a poster child for the March of Dimes in Minnesota. She served as secretary for 35 years of an organization of men and women who participated in the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II. She helped publish and edit four volumes on that theater, all of which are on display at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. She was a member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church and a charter board member of the Independent Living Center of Southeast Missouri.

Survivors include one son, Michael Thies of Cape Girardeau; her mother, Sylvia Seib of Poplar Bluff; two sisters, Mary Susan Beis and Rosemary Scobey of Poplar Bluff; two brothers, Chris Seib of St. Louis and Richard Seib of Dallas, Texas.

Friends may call from 4 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Cotrell Funeral Chapel in Poplar Bluff. A funeral Mass will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Poplar Bluff with the Father Michael McDevitt officiating. Burial will be in the Sacred Heart Cemetery.