Eva Jan (Sechler) Starr

Eva Jan Sechler Starr passed away on Sunday, March 10, 2024. She was 64 years old. 

Jan was born on December 2, 1959 in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, to the late Robert Pressley Sechler, Jr. and the late Glennie Maybelle Hallman Sechler, and raised in a little mill house on Juniper Street in Kannapolis. A tomboy by admission, she hung with the best of the neighborhood kids when it came to sports, and she was not the one to be bullied, despite her ever diminutive stature.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by the love of her life, her husband of 28 years, Charles Emery Starr, whom she met through working at Fieldcrest Cannon. Charles and Jan raised a family together, navigating life’s obstacles with love, strength, sacrifice, and remarkable dedication. As “Mama,” Jan was as fierce of a protector as they came. She stood up for her family and taught them to stand up for themselves. She part-timed as a tutor, helping her kids with homework after school, and moonlighted as a nurse, taking care of everyone in the house when the resident bug came through the front door.

In her thirties and forties, you could find Jan running circles around everyone in a medical records room, carving out a career for herself in the healthcare industry. She brought the same energy to daily walks on the Loop Road – and to cheering from the stands of school awards shows, art exhibits, and little league baseball games. She curated the prettiest flower beds each spring, and she made the best meatloaf, corn pudding, and Hershey’s chocolate pie. She was also a naturally gifted storyteller, a trait she inherited from her father. Let’s just say if you wanted the best account of when Hurricane Hugo blew through Kannapolis, you went to her. She loved Urban Cowboy, her church programs, Coca Cola, her four granddogs, shopping on Black Friday, and everything Christmas – so much, in fact, that she decided to have a son on Christmas Day in 1985. Speaking of: Above all, Jan loved her children, Jacob Charles (Michael) and Matthew Garrett (Emily), who survive.

As sweet as she could be, Jan was not one to sugarcoat things, and there would be no justice in her legacy if we did so here. Jan was a fighter and a survivor. Because she had to be. She did not have an easy life. She battled through years of brain, neck, and back surgeries, as well as through the grief of losing parents, parents-in-law, and a husband. Through everything, her faith never wavered. From the moment she was baptized as a little girl, she believed in the message of love, grace, and redemption in the gospel of Jesus Christ, whom she considered her Lord and Savior.

Jan was humble, but she made sure people did right by her, too. She was tough as nails but with a “tender heart,” as she liked to say, underneath it all. Of the four elements in her family, she was, unequivocally, the fire. Warm and bright, showing the way. Now from the cosmos. She lived the entirety of her life like nobody had bothered to tell her that a small person had no business with such a big heart. 

She was, at her best, a living testament to the power of love. To how, from its clutches, nothing can be torn away. For that, her sons are forever grateful, and they find comfort in knowing that she is no longer in pain.

Jan’s sons would like to extend a special thank you to their uncle, her brother, Andy Sechler, who also survives. You are more appreciated than you will ever know.

We love you, Mama. Forever. We’ll leave the light on for you. Like you did for Deddy.

Jan had a soft spot for animals. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the Humane Society of Concord and Greater Cabarrus County, or an animal shelter of your choice.

Service details will be announced at a later date.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.whitleyfuneralhome.com. 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Eva Jan (Sechler) Starr, please visit our floral store.