Janet Cheyne Cronin

Janet Cronin passed away on July 10, 2025, at home with her family beside her in Bozeman, Montana, after a courageous battle with cancer. She is survived by her husband of 69 years, Paul F. Cronin; children Elizabeth A. (Cece) Cronin and Paul A. (Packy) Cronin (Melissa Ball); grandchildren Frances A. Cronin, Garrett W. Cronin and Nanya E. Cronin; and sister Mabel Cheyne.

Janet was born February 7,1936 in Pittsfield, MA, to Helen (Dallmeyer) and Charles Cheyne. She attended public schools including Stern School, a four-room elementary school. She graduated Pro Merito from Pittsfield High School and attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she met and dated Paul Cronin. They were married in Pittsfield on March 17, 1956 (St. Patrick’s Day), as Paul had joined the Navy for a four-year tour and received orders to report to a ship stationed at Pearl Harbor in the Territory of Hawaii. While there, Janet earned her B.A. from the University of Hawaii.

Following the completion of Paul’s tour of duty, Janet and Paul moved to Boston where Paul entered law school. During this time, Janet taught early elementary school in the Boston school district. Upon Paul’s graduation from law school in 1962, Janet and Paul returned to Hawaii and started their family. They would live in Hawaii for the next 53 years: it is difficult to adequately describe how wonderful those years were.

For many years the family lived steps away from Kailua Beach. Janet often spoke about how the kids rarely wore shoes until they were in the first grade. During those years Janet earned an MBA from the University of Hawaii.

One sunny day at the beach, a neighbor, upon hearing the family’s plan to visit a dude ranch in Wyoming, suggested the family also visit her friends who owned the 320 Dude Ranch in the Gallatin Canyon in Montana. So they did. Janet and the family fell in love with the Canyon. Soon after they purchased property there, built a cabin off Beaver Creek Road, bought and ran the Mountain Lodge, and continued on to many other real estate ventures. They spent many happy times at the cabin.

As she had done in Hawaii, Janet formed many friendships in Montana. She loved hiking and became an avid student of flowers, geological formations and wildlife. In 1989, she published a book still treasured today: Exploring Canyon Trails, Twelve Hikes in the Gallatin Canyon. Also, during this time Janet became fast friends with Dorothy Michener Vick, a long-time Canyon resident. Both had a strong interest in the history of the area. As a result, in 1992, they co-authored an extensive and well-received history entitled Montana's Gallatin Canyon, a Gem in the Treasure State.

Janet adopted and often repeated the slogan, “See the world before you leave it”. She and Paul traveled extensively around the world. A voracious reader her entire life, she studied every place she visited. If she heard friends were traveling to a particular location, she often had a book recommendation at her fingertips - fiction or non-fiction - which she’d send to them ahead of their travels.

Because of Janet’s deteriorating health, Janet and Paul moved to Montana full-time ten years ago. She was a wonderful wife, mother and friend and will be sorely missed.

If you choose to make a donation to a cancer research center of your choosing, Janet would be pleased.