Janice Hegarty was born in Alton, Illinois, on January 18, 1932. Nina and Maurice Williamson were her parents, and she had a beloved older sister, Patricia, whom she called Patsy as a child, and later, Pat. They lived on Prospect Street next to the bluffs above the Mississippi River. Janice often remembered the two of them playing with their enormous collection of dolls in the attic.

From early on, Janice was interested in art. She created and collected everything from paintings to sculptures, cultural souvenirs, jewelry, and textiles. After high school, she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and was a patron there for many years thereafter—if you visited her in her hometown, a museum trip was always on the schedule.

She met her future husband, John Hegarty, in Chicago, and they were married several years later in 1957.

Janice led a culturally rich life, enjoying the arts everywhere she went, whether at home or traveling throughout the US and Europe with John. In 1975, Janice and John became original investors in the 74-floor Residences at the Water Tower, purchasing a home on the 69th floor. It became her sentinel for vistas that seemed to go forever and her launchpad for exploring Chicago for nearly 40 years.

She put her keen eye for art and design to use as an interior decorator and worked for many years at the flagship location of Marshall Fields. She found unusual pieces to decorate their apartment and had a special affinity for bold or whimsical paintings of horses, zebras, and unicorns. She deftly adorned her apartment with a collection of paintings, drawings, and sculptures she had created, mixed with an eclectic array of eye-popping images and objects she had discovered in her art-filled wanderings.

John died in 2012, and Janice moved to Clermont Park in Denver in 2013 to be with Pat and her brother-in-law, Joe. Since Pat's death in 2015, Janice and Joe were often together, enjoying Clermont's community. She found comfort and joy in her new-found proximity to Pat and Joe's growing extended family. Her niece, Kathy was a regular and caring presence for Janice, and her nephew, Bruce visited often from Seattle, bringing her chocolates and leading sing-alongs featuring Janice's old favorites.