Janet (Stokely) Mayou

The family, friends, colleagues, and communities of the Greater Monterey Bay Area mourn the sudden passing of Janet Mayou, who died unexpectedly on December 4, 2024 at age 70.

Janet was born on February 5, 1954, near Tokyo, Japan to a navy father and a therapist mother. The family returned to the U.S. while Janet was still a toddler, settling in the Pasadena area, where she spent her childhood. Janet received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from California State University Los Angeles in 1977. She and her husband Leon, a Watsonville native, married a week later, and when Leon finished his graduate degree at UC Davis, the couple moved to Los Lomas to begin their life in the Pajaro Valley.

Janet was a voracious reader and a person of many talents and abilities, but for all of her interests and achievements, she is best known as a tireless champion for children and youth, and for public education in the Pajaro Valley and the communities of North Monterey County.

Janet credited her mother, Barbara Lafot Stokely, for inspiring her to help found Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance (PVPSA), which provides counseling and comprehensive mental health and other services supporting families and students of the Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD). Janet chaired the fundraising campaign to build the new PVPSA building in Watsonville, named The Mayou Family Center, honoring Janet and Leon's generosity and their family's deep local roots and history of service to the people and communities of the Pajaro Valley.

"Giving was taught by my parents," Janet said in 2019 when the PVPSA building was named. "I have always been committed to instilling in children and youth that education is the key to success in life," she said, "and if you need help along the way, PVPSA can help."

Among Janet's many additional roles in support of students, she served for nine years on the PVUSD Board of Trustees, the board of the Arts Council of Santa Cruz County, the board of Girl Scouts of Monterey Bay (and honored as a Life Member), was a founding member of the Watsonville High School Foundation, a board member of M.A.I.A. (Migration and Adaptation in the Americas), and a steadfast volunteer in classrooms at Hall District School for 25 years and at Tres Pinos School for nearly 20 years. Most recently Janet helped anchor the community fundraising campaign to build the now-nationally recognized Emeril Lagasse Teaching Kitchen and Culinary Garden at Starlight Elementary in Watsonville, which she and Leon also supported generously.

There will not be a service, but donations in Janet's honor may be mailed to Pajaro Valley Prevention & Student Assistance (PVPSA), 240 East Lake Ave, Watsonville, CA 95076, or made online at www.pvpsa.org/donate.

Published in The Pajaronian · January 10, 2025