Alumni Obituary – Janna Faith Worden

Utica, New York – Janna Faith (Broadbooks) Worden (CC ’62), 77 of Utica, New York, passed into the loving arms of Jesus on December 25th, 2021.

A kind, strong and gentle woman of faith, she was a beloved Wife, Mother, and Grandmother. Born in Wichita, Kansas on November 30, 1944, she is the wife of William James Worden of Utica for 58 years.

She is survived by daughter Lori Ann Worden Buck, son William J.R. Worden Jr., his wife Angele’ of Utica, daughter Michelle Eyvonne Worden Wagner, husband Jody of Elk Horn, Kentucky, and daughter Nicole Cherish Worden Czarnecki, husband Brian of Lexington, South Carolina. She is also survived by her husband William Worden Sr., their four children, 12 Grandchildren, and four Great Grandchildren and her sister Susan of Berryville, Arkansas, and a Sister-In-Law Gloria of Rogers, Arkansas. Janna was preceded in death by her parents, Byron “Bus” Broadbooks and Darda Faith Wadlow Broadbooks, and three brothers, Peter, Joel, and David Broadbooks.

Janna attended grade schools in McPherson, Kansas, a town she dearly loved, and attended high school at Central College in McPherson, a combination college-high school at the time. She transferred to Kipp High school in Kipp, Kansas near Salina, graduating with the class of 1962. Janna attended Brown-Mackie Business College in downtown Salina, Kansas in 1962 and graduated from the Nancy Taylor School of Modeling.

She met her husband Bill who was serving in the Air Force at nearby Schilling Air Force Base in September of that year. She was 17. He was 19. Their courtship began in December of 1962 and they were married on April 28, 1963, eight months after they first met. Upon discharge from the Air Force, the couple moved to Utica where they lived for about seven years while her husband Bill worked at Waterbury Felt in Oriskany and eventually entered radio broadcasting. In 1971, the family, now with three children, moved back to Wichita, Kansas where Bill became the main News Anchor at KTVH, Channel 12 (Now KWCH). While in Wichita, they had their fourth child, Nicole, and in 1977, Bill accepted a position as main News Anchor at WKTV in Utica where the family remained until he retired 35 years later in 2012.

Janna worked several retail jobs through the years, including Sears and Montgomery Wards, but the job she loved most was as a companion/caregiver to several senior citizens in Utica. Her kindness and gentleness were appreciated by not only the clients but their families as well. Janna was the embodiment of what it means to be a wife and mother. It’s all she ever wanted. Jesus blessed us with this amazing woman who always cared, thought about, and prayed for others before herself. After a long battle with cancer, she is, at last, at home and at peace with the God who created her and with those loved ones who preceded her.

The family wishes to thank Dr. Alicia Detraglia and the entire Oncology unit at the Faxton campus of MVHS for helping her on this journey.

ABOUT CENTRAL CHRISTIAN COLLEGE OF KANSAS

Central Christian College of Kansas is a regionally accredited institution offering undergraduate and graduate-level programs. Central strives to offer Christ-centered education for the whole person – heart, mind, soul, and strength. Its history dates back to 1884, and it is located in the friendly town of McPherson, Kansas. Central is a strategically small college that offers over forty areas of residential study and a thriving online program for non-traditional students. To learn more about Central go to centralchristian.edu/about. Visit the Foundation of Central Christian College to see what projects and events are coming up.