Janet Naylor - the Keystone
The Samman siblings. From L to R, clockwise: Peggy, Rita, Della, Joan, Valda, Janet (Mom), David and Fred.
Without a shadow of a doubt, my Mom was – and still is – the keystone of the whole enterprise. Dad would not have been able to build a successful career as a stained-glass artist and craftsman and maintain a happy home life if it hadn’t been for Mom’s unwavering support, dependability and stability. She is as much a part of the story as is he, so it is only fitting that she is included in the ‘About Us’ section of this website.
Janet Patricia Samman was born in Moseley, Birmingham, in November 1942. She was the second youngest in a large family of eight children. Much like Dad, she disliked school – she attended College Road Infant and Junior School and then Moseley Modern School – and couldn’t wait to leave, leaving when she was 15, which was the earliest a child could leave compulsory education in the 1950s.
Not being interested in pursuing a career as such, she spent several years working as a typist and switchboard operator, first at Meteor Garage in Moseley, then at the British Sugar Corporation. Her final job was with Temps Agency in and around Birmingham.
On the 13th October 1959 at the age of 16, she started dating the 18-year-old boy-over-the-road, Anthony, my Dad. During their courtship Dad finished an apprenticeship as a commercial artist and found work in that profession. However, unhappy as a commercial artist, shortly before they got married he enquired about working in stained-glass at Hardman’s (John Hardman Studios) but they hadn’t anything to offer.
They got married on the 31st March 1964, Easter Tuesday, at English Martyrs Church in Sparkhill, Birmingham. On arriving home from their honeymoon, Dad received a letter in the post from Hardman’s offering him a job. The job unfortunately entailed a significant drop in wage. However, Mom was fully supportive and encouraged him to take it, as she believed in the importance of following your calling. This belief was remarkable at the time given that they were just starting their young lives together.
For 18 months they lived in ‘digs’ (lodging with other family members), acquiring the keys to their first home a mere two weeks before I (Rachel) was born. Twenty-one months later, daughter number two, Lia, was born.
Janet and Tony on their wedding day in 1964.
Just as Mom supported Dad’s vocation, Dad supported hers. Mom’s passion was her family, and during these years, she devoted herself to raising her two young daughters and looking after the home while Dad continued to work at Hardman’s. Unfortunately, a wage too meagre to support his family and a devastating fire at the studios forced the difficult decision to take better paid work.
A higher wage enabled a move to a three-bedroomed semi-detached house in Hall Green, Birmingham, in 1972. A year later, Mom gave birth to their third daughter, Ester. Their family was complete.
As I’ve written about in Dad’s little biography, he went self-employed as a stained-glass artist in 1979, working from home. It was a big decision, jointly made.
Mom was integral to building and running the business. Her skills as a typist and telephonist came into their own as she took on the roles of receptionist and secretary. She also helped out on site, visited clients with Dad, and provided a sounding board for Dad as he
Janet and daughters. From L to R: Lia, Ester, Janet, Rachel.
worked on new designs, grappled with problems and clarified his thinking. With the home also functioning as a workplace, she was always available to provide workmates and clients cups of tea and biscuits, and quite often lent a sympathetic ear to workmates going through difficult times.
In the stained glass workshop.
Lia in the workshop with a window on the bench she has just remade.
Of course, Mom was more than a business partner, home-maker and mother. Her interests mainly include gardening and tending a large vegetable plot, working on the family history of both sides of the family and keeping a diary – activities that all continue to this day.
Throughout all those years, and as their daughters grew up and flew the nest, Mom and Dad worked as a team. They held (and hold) old-fashioned family values, with Mom nurturing the children’s growth and development and Dad earning a living to support the family.
The home has remained a welcoming refuge for their daughters, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren but over time, the workshop grew quieter and quieter as Dad gradually retired.
Mom did not enjoy the workshop standing empty but in recent years it has gained a new lease of life. Lia has started to use it as she, too, with some help from Dad but mainly from Ester who followed in Dad’s footsteps as a stained-glass artist, is learning the trade. Mom loves seeing the workshop being used again and the home once again being a hub of artistic activity. And she is still offering cups of tea, biscuits and a sympathetic ear to anyone who visits!