Janet Dreifus had a dream of cleaning up the planet, but breast cancer ended the dream.
She died June 15 in Denver at age 49.
Dreifus had various pursuits in her life but considered her aim to get people interested in cleaning up the environment the most important.
Her main purpose was to help people realize “they can find a purpose and do things to improve the world wherever they are,” said her partner, Marjorie Montrose. “Do whatever you can wherever you lived.”
Dreifus wrote on her Web page: “As I considered my own mortality I realized that I hadn’t yet made a real difference when it came to the planet.”
Her lifelong habit of picking up litter wasn’t enough, she wrote: “It’s the tip of the iceberg. I believe that global sustainability is the key issue of our time.”
She started Janet’s Walk, which she hoped would result in her walking throughout the country, meeting with citizens and community leaders. Her aim was to get people to do things in their own neighborhoods to clean up their towns and work for clean air and water, said her cousin, Dan Tuteur of Evergreen.
Her first efforts were in Columbia and Salem, Mo., where she met with townspeople and officials, encouraging them to find ways “to live in harmony with nature.”
On her trips, she was accompanied by her poodle, Luke, who pulled a colorful jogging cart carrying her supplies: food, water and a change of clothes.
Janet Dreifus was born in Denver on Dec. 12, 1956. She was a graduate of Thom as Jefferson High School and the clothing design school of the International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago.
For some time, she worked at Swallow Hill as concert producer. It wasn’t just a title.
“She booked the concerts, did all the publicity, rented the space when Swallow Hill was homeless, took tickets and got the chairs and cleaned up the place afterwards,” said Julie Davis, who teaches music at Swallow Hill.
Swallow Hill, a folk-music and acoustic organization that teaches music and hosts concerts, now has a home in south Denver.
Dreifus “was enthusiastic and had a lot of gusto,” said Davis, of Nederland. “She thrived on the highs of an event.”
To support herself, Dreifus held all manner of jobs: housecleaner, clothes designer, house renovator, newspaper carrier, nurse aide and tutor.
She hiked the mountains as much as possible, “feeling totally at home with nature,” Davis said.
Dreifus is survived by her mother, Annemarie Tucker, and brother David Tucker, both of Parker; sister, Lynne Lampe of Columbia, Mo.; and her birth mother, Louise Jensen of Salem, Mo.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at vculver@denverpost.com or 303-820-1223.