Dr. Janet E. Walsh

Dr. Janet E. (Gilboe) Walsh, 69, of Madison, Wis., passed away peacefully on July 31, 2026, at UnityPoint Health-Meriter Hospital. A celebration of life is pending.

Janet was born September 20, 1956, in East Chicago, Ind. She graduated from St. Thomas More elementary school in Munster, Ind. and matriculated from high school at Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond, Ind. She went on to become the first woman to graduate from Purdue University with separate degrees in nursing and psychology.

Janet worked as a nurse at River Oaks Hospital in New Orleans, caring for cancer patients and later those with psychiatric issues. She focused on young women in crisis.

“I went to New Orleans for the weekend and stayed for eight years,” her husband, Mike Vanden Brook, quoted Janet as saying. “It was her kind of town.”

The couple would return to the Crescent City annually for music and fun and to support Villalobos Rescue Center, an animal shelter.

Janet returned to her native Indiana to earn her Doctor of Psychology degree from Indiana State University. Later she worked for more than 20 years in the Wisconsin prison system treating inmates with mental illness. Janet rose to become psychiatric supervisor at Columbia Correctional Institution.

Janet and Mike, who was also a psychologist for the prison system, retired together in 2016. For the next 10 years they followed their passions: live music and the Chicago Cubs.

A favorite musician to see in Chicago was Micheal McDermott. Janet and her husband traveled to Minneapolis for performances by Stephen Marley and Burning Spear and a tour of Prince’s Paisley Park. In Wisconsin Dells, they enjoyed concerts by Foghat, Peter Noone, the Turtles and Robert Cray.

Janet, a woman who was small in stature and large in life, often wore leopard-print apparel. She was known to weave her way through packed houses with Mike until she reached the stage.

Recalling a concert years back, Mike said Janet wasn’t shy about approaching a rock legend. “She never tired of telling me she kissed Bruce Springsteen,” her husband said.

Despite declining health, Janet rallied for concerts in the last year headlined by Paul McCartney and Patti Smith.

While in grade school, the St. Thomas More nuns hooked Janet on the Cubs after a class trip to Wrigley Field. Janet and Mike made regular pilgrimages to Wrigley Field and watched nearly every other game on television. “She loved singing ‘Go, Cubs, Go’ after winning home games.”

She was preceded in death by her parents, Tom Gilboe and Dottie (Walsko) Connor. In addition to her husband and the Vanden Brook Family, she is survived by sister, Joyce Klisser (Artie); brother, Gregg Gilboe (Sandy); nephews, Remy Gilboe (Sam) and Tim Klisser; nieces, Shanna Klisser Merino (Eddie) and Elisabeth Monroe (Mike); and great-nephew, Arlo Arthur Merino.

“She had a big heart,” Mike said. “She had a real soft spot for people and animals in need.” Those include their cats, Keecha and Jack.

Memorials may be made to the Dane County Humane Society.

All Faiths Funeral & Cremation Services of Madison is assisting the family. Online condolences can be shared at www.866allfaiths.com.