Remembering Janet Shour…A Local Hero.

It is with a sincere and heavy heart that we report our dear friend Janet Shour passed away last Monday. She loved and touched everyone that knew her. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Harbor Gateway Community as we mourn with them. Janet was named “Pioneer Woman of the Year” by Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino this year and the new Harbor Gateway pocket park was named in her honor. Her quiet strength and great resolve will be remembered by all that encountered her sweet spirit. We love and will remember you forever Janet. We know that you resting in peace with your Heavenly Father.

Born in Point Marion, Pennsylvania, on April 13, 1929, Janet Shour moved to Los Angeles in 1950 and settled in the Harbor Gateway. In 1963 she graduated from the Harbor College nursing program and worked at Torrance Memorial Hospital for 25 years until she retired in 1991. Since her retirement, she has been a very active volunteer in the Harbor Gateway community, the Police Advisory Board, LAPD Harbor Division, Wilmington Lion's Club and the Harbor Gateway food bank. She has dedicated much of the last two decades of her life providing youth in the Harbor Gateway a solid foundation to achieve their potential. Since 2006, following the shooting of 14-year-old Cheryl Green, Janet, together with her best friend Mary Ann Cyphers, founded and led the monthly "Mother's Meeting," now called the "MAC Meeting," as a way to inform and problem-solve in the community.  In 2012, Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino chose Janet as his Pioneer Woman of the Year, "not only because of her love and compassion for her community but for her selfless involvement in the community. This is what makes her so special to us," he said. The Los Angeles City Council annually honors fifteen women of achievement from each of the fifteen Council Districts who have made exceptional contributions in service of the community. On March 22, 2013, following years of advocacy, the City of Los Angeles opened a new "pocket park" in her neighborhood in order to create green spaces that provide opportunities for safe and secure recreational and social gatherings. The park was named after her, "Janet Shour Playground at the Harbor Gateway Pocket Park" and is achieving exactly what Janet wanted: increasing property values, reducing crime, providing a place where low-income families can have a sense of community, and most important, offering recreational opportunities for at-risk youth so they will stay out of gangs and counter other negative influences. While Janet had no children of her own, all of the kids in the community called her "Grandma." 

"Janet is the most humble and hard working woman you will ever meet," said LAPD Sgt. Catherine Plows during the unveiling of the park name at the opening of the park. Janet was preceded in death by her husband Maurice Shour and her brother Donald Doyle. She is survived by her sister-in-law Toshiko Doyle, her nephew John W. Doyle, numerous cousins, countless friends, neighbors and members of the community who will miss her dearly. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Healthy Start Program at the 186th Street Elementary School, 1581 W. 186th St., Gardena, CA 90248.