Janice Elaine Adrian passed away at her home in Sacramento, California, on October 30, 2025, in the company of family and loved ones.
Jan was born on December 8, 1941, in Reedley, California, the only child of Samuel Harry Adrian and Verna Alice (Friesen) Adrian. She graduated from Roosevelt High School in Fresno, and attended Tabor College in Kansas before graduating from Fresno State College. She went on to earn her MSW in Psychiatric Social Work from UCLA in 1966.
In 1972, she married Robert (Bob) Conn, and they had a son, Brian Conn. Although they divorced in 1978, Bob and Jan remained friends throughout their lives. She married Michael Baetge in 1992, and they divorced in 2003.
Jan is widely remembered as a leader in the cancer world for her work educating people on the important role of body, mind, and spirit in cancer and all illness. After working for several years as a psychiatric social worker, in 1978 she co-founded the Center for Health Awareness, offering resources and seminars in personal growth; in 1989, when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, her background taught her that there was more to healing than chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery. Wanting to help cancer patients and survivors focus on healing the whole person, in 1994 she became the Founder and Executive Director of Healing Journeys, a nonprofit formed to produce the conference Cancer as a Turning Point: From Surviving to Thriving.
These conferences, which brought together cancer patients and anyone else touched by cancer or another life-altering condition, along with physicians, nutritionists, musicians, comedians, dramatists, and patients’ friends and families, were offered free nationwide to over 25,000 participants for 25 years. Jan’s desire was to be an instrument of caring; the thousands of people whose lives she touched will remember her, as she wished, as a true and faithful servant.
In 2023 Jan published her memoir, Coloring Outside the Lines: Surviving and Thriving with Cancer for 30+ Years.
Jan is survived by her son, Brian; former sister-in-law and close friend Carolyn Conn Chamberlain, the mother of Jan’s nephews David and Jason Roth; dear friend Kerry Freeman; longtime friend and colleague Georgia Peach; numerous other friends and relatives; and the many spiritual and personal growth communities of which she was a vital member.
A Celebration of Life is planned for 1–3pm PST on January 24, 2026, at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Sacramento. For those who cannot attend, the ceremony will be livestreamed at https://youtube.com/@uusstv?si=OrCskAuuypO7HWqo.
I attended a conference several years ago, organized by Jan, and I was recovering from an encounter with cancer, and the conference was very helpful in my Recovery Journey.
I am very appreciative of the efforts and enthusiasm that Jan did to make the conference possible. THANKS!!
We were so, so lucky to have Jan in our community of women with cancer! I enjoyed a wonderful conference she organized a number of years ago. No one with cancer was alone, thanks to Jan. Thank you dear Jan, your life was rich with meaning. You will be missed. My heart goes out to your family and friends.
Jan had a profound influence on me after my breast cancer diagnosis in 2011. It helped me reframe the experience from self-pity and fear to a door to a new enriched life. I went to her conferences and events. She is a hero and role model for me. I experienced a reoccurrence about the time her book came out- metastatic in several sites, I gave the book to countless people. She was so modest about her approach. She will be greatly missed.
Looking forward to celebrating Jan in January 💕🙏🏼😊💫
I found Jan’s conferences to be very informative and uplifting and started me on a path of healthier living after my breast cancer diagnosis. She helped so many people in her lifetime.
Planning to be at the celebration of life for Jan. Yes she will be missed. Ray
Look forward to watching the live stream celebration of Jan’s life. Her work and her legacy will always be remembered and honored.
My condolences to Jan’s family & friends. Her bright light of love will be forever remembered by those of us who crossed her path.
Godspeed on your new adventure, Jan.
You will be missed. Thank you for everything!
Jan was a woman of so much compassion and knowledge, who shared all of this with so many. Her mentorship strengthened so many. So grateful for her work, life and books, which carry on her truths.
Such a powerful living goddess of a woman. I’ve attended numerous conferences, volunteered and have been a true admirer of her commitment to patients, caregivers and all beings who suffer and rise up as warriors. There will never be another quite like this grace filled soul. Shine on dear sister.
What a vibrant, inspiring, lovely person Jan was. I had the opportunity to attend one of the conferences she organized some years back. I went with a very close friend who had cancer and was trying alternative therapies (mistletoe, for one). The speakers were knowledgeable, compassionate and hope inspiring. Although my friend succumbed to complications as a result of the cancer she had, she lived the last few years of her life with a positive and strong resolve. Jan’s organization played a huge role in that for my friend, I believe.
Jan Adrian will be missed and remembered for the large presence she was in life.
I worked for Jan and then husband Michael for three years at their CA business. Jan was a smart, savvy businesswoman as well as being very generous and fair to employees. Best boss ever!
Jan, I miss you being here with us in the form and way you always have been. I can still cry that you are not here as I have known you until I read these comments that reminds me that you are still here, and your work of liberation from so much of the tiresome isolating insecurity that cancer and other serious illnesses come with is being lived and spread and, it will for generations❣️ Always, dee
A spark of Jan lives on in me . . . she infinitely inspired me.
I have attended several Healing Journey conferences and found hope and inspiration from the many speakers including Jan. I’ve had to deal with Kidney cancer (2009)and Breast cancer (2014) and Healing Journeys has helped me live my life and thrive despite cancer.
I am forever grateful for Healing Journeys and Jan Adrian as my inspiration.
I attended a seminar years ago in the Seattle area where Jan spoke. It was wonderful. I’ve always kept up on her postings. Such a loss but what a brave lady.