Janine Renee (Calmettes) Brittin, 99, passed away quietly in her South Boulder home on Tuesday, July 30, after a brief illness and in the company of her daughter.

Janine was born in Paris, France, on May 8, 1925. As a schoolgirl in the late 1930s, she suffered under the deprivations of war, as early-morning breadlines became de rigueur for her family as the Nazis forced their way west and south, driving thousands of refugees into France. In addition to suffering through food and energy shortages that plagued France, Janine and her mother suffered financially and were forced to flee Paris. Janine and her mother fled to Marseille, part of Vichy France, where they stayed until the war was over.

After the war, Janine was hired by the French Army to work in occupied Germany identifying individuals possessing the qualifications to emigrate to France. While in Berlin, she attended a Shakespeare course taught by the Free University of Berlin. While in class, she met George Halpern, working in Berlin as a translator for the U.S. Army at the Nuremberg Trials. George had earlier escaped with his mother (Sophie Volpe) to America from occupied Poland via Lisbon, Portugal. George attended Stuyvesant High School in New York City while war raged throughout Europe. At age 17 he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Because he was fluent in Russian and German, the U.S. Army assigned him and another G.I. to be the American Army’s liaisons with the Soviet Red Army, providing the U.S. Army with information about the Red Army and their plans. In May 1945, George arrived in Berlin with the Red Army and met Janine one month later there. In 1947, Janine and George were married at a civil ceremony in Berlin. While George returned to America on a troop transport, Janine returned on a small-decommissioned U.S. Navy vessel, the USAT General Alexander M. Patch. Upon arrival at Ellis Island, New York, Janine was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.

George and Janine first settled in New York City. Janine, always drawn to learning and literature, found work at the main branch of the New York City library. In early 1948, using the G.I. Bill, George applied to and was admitted to Stanford University and the couple headed west. When they stopped in Boulder in 1948, they decided they liked it so much that they changed their plans and George enrolled at the University of Colorado. After graduation, he pursued a master’s degree at Harvard University. In 1952, George and Janine moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. While living in Cambridge, their two sons were born, Philip (b. 1954) and Alexander (b. 1956). After graduating, George was hired by Martin Marietta and the family moved to Baltimore, Maryland. They stayed there until 1962, when George was able to transfer to the Martin Marietta facility located in Denver. Upon arrival in Colorado, the family moved into a newly constructed house in South Boulder.

In 1962, George became ill with an acute circulatory illness and passed away at 37, leaving Janine a widow with two young sons. She met Wesley Brittin, the Chairman of the Physics Department at the University of Colorado. Wesley was instrumental in the growth of the university's physics department, obtaining funding for both Physics Department towers on campus (the George Gamow Tower and JILA (Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics) Tower). He was also personally responsible for bringing and hiring luminaries to the University, such as Frank Oppenheimer. He later became the Dean of the C.U. Graduate School and was instrumental in starting the Summer Theoretical Physics Institute.

In 1963, the new couple purchased a home on Vassar Drive, one of the few residences on the then-dirt road. As the wife of the Chairman of the C.U. Physics Department, Janine oversaw the entertainment of up to 150 guests at physics-related social functions in their home. At the time, physics luminaries such as George Gamow, Frank Oppenheimer, Edward Condon, and others came to their home on Vassar Drive.

During this time, Janine and Wesley had two daughters, Anne (b. 1963) and Elizabeth (b. 1967). Never one to tolerate physical or intellectual idleness, Janine, though a mother of four, explored long hikes with some of the other "physics wives" in the neighborhood, at one point rambling up to and along the Mesa Trail with Jeanne, the wife of physicist Uriel Nauenberg. She enjoyed teaching French at Fairview High.

After Wesley died in 2005, Janine maintained her home virtually alone, although Elizabeth was always on hand to shepherd her into her golden years and beyond. She was a voracious reader of all forms of literature. During this time, Janine wrote and illustrated three books: “Divorcing the Kitchen” (2013); “Divorcing the Planet” (2014); and “Stuck in the Family Tree” (2020). (All three books are still available in paperback on Amazon.)

Janine, always famously self-sufficient and at times strong-minded, was able to spend the last years of her life in her home, being aided as necessary by her adult children and her many close friends in the area. At the end, her last words to those around her reflected her elementally and uncommonly appreciative, kind, and undemanding nature: "Thank you."

Janine leaves her four children, Philip Brittin of Cortez, Colo. and Alex Brittin of Washington, D.C., Anne Brittin of Wilmington, N.C., and Elizabeth Brittin of Boulder, Colo.; four grandchildren, Kaelin Brittin and Jonathan Brittin of Washington, D.C. and Elise and Max of Wilmington, N.C.; and a phenomenal tally of friends and other family members who appreciated Janine's compassion, tenacity, and essential joie de vivre until the very end.

Services will be private, as the family will distribute Janine's ashes between Cambridge, Flagstaff Mountain, Longs Peak, and areas in and around Paris. Donations in her name may be made to your favorite animal or nature non-profit. Some of her favorites include The National Audubon Society, Romo's Rescue Fund, World Wildlife Fund, and the Humane Society.

Send to someone

Share this obituary with others

https://everloved.com/life-of/janine-brittin/obituary/

Copy