Janine Lynette Wilcox of Prairie Village, Kansas, and formerly of Oceanport, New Jersey, passed away on July 23, 2024, in Kansas City, Missouri after a long, hard-fought battle with melanoma. She was 48.

Janine was born on Nov 7, 1975, at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey. She graduated from Shore Regional High School in West Long Branch, New Jersey, class of 1994 where she was an honors student and standout catcher for a division champion Shore Regional softball team that went 21-2 during her senior year. Her rifle arm gunned down many an opposing base runner who dared to test it. She then attended Monmouth University on a full softball scholarship. During her freshman year of college, she took a part-time job tearing tickets, selling popcorn, etc at the newly opened Loews (now AMC) movie theater in Eatontown, New Jersey. That marked the beginning of a 28-year career that saw her rise through the ranks of AMC as general manager of theaters in Cherry Hill, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Kansas City, “Director of Operations” for various regions of the country, and finally “DO” of 36 AMC movie theaters in the greater Los Angeles area, the busiest region in the USA. She was also a talented amateur photographer who showed her work at events in the KC area. Her photos of birds large and small taken in various locations from Florida to NJ to Colorado and beyond are stunning and are proudly displayed in our homes.

To all who knew her, Janine was a loving, caring, truly selfless woman who always put the needs and welfare of others ahead of her own. Throughout her 2 1/2 year cancer battle, she would downplay the news to friends and family members because she hated making people sad and “ruining” their day. Her quick wit and amazing sense of humor made her a joy to be around. Absolutely no one could make you smile and laugh like Janine, and her insanely funny Snapchat videos (lovingly created “for family only”) were priceless. The pain of losing her so young, too young, can never be put into words. Hers was a life cut far too short, but one that she lived incredibly well.

Janine leaves behind her mother Barbara Tucci (John) of Waretown, New Jersey, her father Bert Wilcox (Lori) of St. Augustine, Florida and Long Branch, New Jersey, sister Joanna Douglas (James) of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, brother Paul Wilcox (Colleen) of Colts Neck, New Jersey, her beloved nephews Brady and Cooper, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Janine’s amazing Kansas City friends, Dallas and Ian Perry helped all of us through this ordeal in ways that we can never fully explain or repay. She will be forever loved and missed by Kylie and Will Clark and their sons, Jack, Archer, and Red, Janine’s adopted Kansas nephews. Janine’s boyfriend, Brian Stephens, truly became a member of our family, especially at the end, and we will always be grateful for his love, care, and caregiving throughout the early and middle stages of this hellish disease. Finally, the staff at KC Hospice House…Angels.

She will be interred at Woodbine Cemetery in Oceanport, New Jersey beside her grandparentson the Wilcox family plot. Services will be private. A celebration of her life will be held later in the summer at a time and place to be determined.