Richmond (VA) Friends Meeting

Memorial Minute for Martha Jane Menk

by WebPost | Dec 20, 2022 | Announcement

Martha Jane Menk, an attender and member of Richmond Friends Meeting for over three decades, passed away on August 3, 2022, after a prolonged journey with Parkinson’s disease.

An artist whose wide-ranging interests included watercolor, pastels, pastel chalk, monotype, and fabric, Martha is remembered for a thoughtful, problem-solving nature; a sense of fun and adventure; an appreciation of nature, music, and children; and a deep capacity for friendship.

“The Quaker way of life was just perfect for her,” recalled Gary Janak, her husband of thirty-three years. Even as Martha’s health declined, she found joy in experiencing the Quaker qualities of love, kindness, and inclusion, he said. Up until Covid-19 temporarily ended in-person gatherings at Meeting in 2020, “she just loved the camaraderie and interaction [of attendance at Quaker worship]. It was very comforting for her.” 

Martha was born on January 25, 1951, in Canton, Ohio. She was the daughter of Donald Appleby Menk and Dorothy Hull Menk and had two brothers, Donald Jr. and Bruce.  After the family moved to Richmond, Martha enrolled at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg. There, she studied art under acclaimed painter Julien Binford and made enduring friendships. She graduated in 1973.

Two years later, Martha and a girlfriend made a 6,000-mile trek to California, traveling largely on back roads. She remained on the West Coast for several years—working at a waitressing job where she made lifelong friends, installing solar-powered energy units, and completing a Master’s of Art degree from Goddard College. 

Returning to Virginia in the mid-1980s, Martha worked with several public-interest groups, including the Virginia Action Coalition and Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia (HOME). At a Contra folk dance in October 1988, she met her future husband, Gary Janak. Quickly smitten, they married less than three months later, on January 1, 1989.

Martha taught art for several years at Battlefield Elementary School in Hanover County, leaving after son Isaac was born in July 1990.  A journal entry soon after Isaac’s birth reflects the deliberative, introspective way in which Martha approached life. “New thought,” she wrote. “In considering choices for work, I think about the possibilities of opening a private school and the opportunity it would provide to be constantly involved and mindful of the principles I want my son to learn. . .I believe the process of setting up a school would certainly help me to achieve clarity of thinking of what values and objectives I/we feel are most important to Isaac’s education as a whole individual.”

A decade later, Martha acted on that leading. As her son was approaching middle school, she gathered a group of like-minded parents and discussed the possibility of creating a boys’ middle school. Seven Hills School was formed. The school, where she later taught art, was continuing to flourish at her death.  

For several years in the late 1990s, Martha managed the Art Studio at the Children’s Museum of Richmond. There, she was known to many families as a reliable source of inspiring ideas for creative uses of unusual and simple found materials. 

An attender at Richmond Friends Meeting beginning in the 1980s, Martha served on the Religious Education Committee from 1996 to 2003. She became a member of the Quaker Meeting in 2005. From 2007 to 2009, she participated on the Care & Counsel Committee, serving as co-clerk the latter two years. Other assignments included the Newsletter Mailing, Library, and Spring Retreat Committees. In around 1996, she served on the planning committee for the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Quaker Women’s Retreat. In 2017, she and Gary led a merry workshop at the spring retreat on making whirlygigs and pinwheels.  For many years, Martha was an active member of the Quaker quilters, freely sharing her knowledge of color and design. 

In her Northside Richmond neighborhood, she was known for organizing July 4th bike parades and front yard croquet games.

After Martha’s diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease in 2000, she and Gary proved to be a remarkable team in navigating that illness. With Gary’s devoted assistance, she continued to enjoy art, games, the Nationals baseball team, and nature. For a time, they managed two cabins for the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, of which they were members. Even as the illness reached its final stages, Gary recalled, Martha would sometimes sit outside on the ground for several hours, filling buckets with leaves and grasses, which they turned into poster art.

A celebration of Martha’s life was held at the Meetinghouse on August 27, 2022.