JANET (JAN) STRATTON MCCALL Dec. 25, 1939 – Dec. 30, 2025
Janet (Jan) Stratton McCall, age 86, peacefully departed this life in the UNM hospital on December 30, 2025, after a short illness. Her devoted husband, Gene McCall, was at her side.
Jan was born and grew up in Brigham City, Utah. She was the daughter of Kenneth Leroy Murdock and Vera Bowdin Murdock. She had four sisters and a brother. Three of the sisters, La Dean, Sharon, and Darlene, and her brother, Daniel, preceded her in death.
Jan married Boyd Mark and had three sons, Rick, Scott, and Steven. All have survived her, along with many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Scott and Steven still live in Utah, and Rick is a resident of Washington state.
Jan married Ray Stratton, an Air Force officer, in 1970, and, almost immediately, went with him to Southeast Asia, where he was a forward air controller (FAC) during the Vietnam War. Jan worked with the American Red Cross in Vietnam, traveling extensively to argue for improved working and living conditions for American soldiers.
Returning to the United States, Jan lived in Washington, D.C., and in California and Florida. After Ray’s retirement from the Air Force, she lived in the Tampa area, where Ray worked for Lockheed Martin Corporation for nearly 20 years. They moved to Valparaiso, Florida, after Ray’s retirement from Lockheed, and there she met her future husband, Gene McCall, who was a neighbor.
Ray died in 2008, and in 2010, Jan and Gene moved to Gene’s house in Los Alamos, New Mexico. They were married in Santa Fe in 2012. In Los Alamos, she transformed a failing landscape into one of enjoyment through her love of plants and flowers and her skill at growing them.
Jan’s life of travel and adventure was not over, however. They purchased a townhouse in Italy, which was part of a restored 14th century castle in the Village of Montappone, where they spent 3-6 months a year. It was used as a base for Jan to continue her interest in the history of the western world, and in having new experiences, by exploring the historic, Roman, sites of Italy, then traveling to shop in the crowded markets of Marrakesh and explore the tombs of pharaohs in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, and going on safari in South Africa.
Jan came to love the area and people of Montappone, and she frequently said that she wanted the cemetery in Montappone to be her final resting place. Her husband, Gene, will make that happen.
Rivera Funeral Home is handling arrangements, and all are invited to attend a funeral mass conducted by Father John Daniel on January 30 at 10 am at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos to celebrate the life of, and bid a final goodbye to, this extraordinary woman, Janet Sratton McCall.