Janet England Obituary, Death Cause – The city of Charlotte in North Carolina After a courageous struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, Janet England, a pioneering local news anchor and journalist, passed away in the early morning hours of Saturday, March 25, 2023. Her face was a familiar one on television for many Charlotteans. Janet England passed away. Janet Volz was born in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Charles and Dorothy Volz, and she was reared in Marion and Roanoke, Virginia, alongside her older brother, Douglas. Even at an early age, Janet demonstrated a spirit of inquisitiveness and a love for music.
Through the course of her studies in communications, Janet uncovered her interest in journalism at James Madison College, where she also learned about the power of narrative and found her enthusiasm for the field. In addition, Janet met her sorority big-sis Susan Abbott while she was a student at JMU. Susan Abbott would eventually become Janet’s formal sister-in-law, Susan Volz, after being set up by Janet’s older brother Doug.
After receiving her degree, Janet started her career in television news as an investigative reporter. She covered the local news in Virginia for stations in Roanoke and subsequently in Richmond, where she received further on-air experience covering the weather, sports, and the anchor desk. Her major break came in 1975 when she was hired by the Queen City CBS station WBTV to co-anchor the evening news alongside John Wilson and then Bob Inman. This allowed her to breach the glass ceiling and become one of the first female television anchors in the region.
In 1981, Janet met architect Bill England on a blind date that was arranged by her friend Meredith Ingram. Bill England was a neighbor of Meredith’s brother and sister-in-law, Tommy and Sally Ingram, and he was their best friend. The couple became engaged after only six weeks of dating and married after only three months of courtship. For the past 42 years, they have spent their time together raising their two sons, Brett and Chandler, and doting on their grandchildren, Addie and Huck.
At the beginning of the 1980s, Janet relocated to the competing ABC affiliate WSOC-TV to cohost the daytime show Midday with Mayes alongside the illustrious Charlotte newsman Doug Mayes. When Janet and Sheila Knox, a longtime producer, colleague, and friend, were working at WSOC, they came up with the idea for the popular and enduring series Family Focus. Janet left her career in television in the middle of the 1990s to use her talents in the corporate sector and various community outreach initiatives, including as the Director of Communications at the Nalle Clinic. Prior to officially retiring to focus on her own family and to assist in the care of her aging parents, Janet retired from television to share her talents with the corporate sector and various community outreach initiatives.