John H. Menefee passed away at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester, Minn, Friday, May 23, 2008.
He was born in Faribault on Dec. 17, 1925, one of four children of the Rev. Guy and Marie Curial Menefee. He grew up in Rochester, where his father was rector at Calvary Episcopal Church. John graduated from Rochester High School and attended Rochester Junior College, then, briefly, the University of Minnesota. He was drafted into the Army, where he served from 1944 to 1946 as a medical corpsman on a hospital ship evacuating wounded servicemen from Europe and, later, from the Pacific Theater.
After leaving the service John returned to the University of Minnesota, finished his undergraduate degree, and enrolled in the dental school. While at “the U,” he met and married Waiva Jean Salisbury, a native of Fergus Falls. The two moved to International Falls after his 1954 graduation, and John practiced dentistry with Drs. Earl Thompson and “Frosty” Johnson before establishing a solo practice. He began to cut back his practice in 1990, and fully retired in 2000.
John and Waiva had four children — Guy, Jan, David and Laura — and were active members of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, where John served for years on the church’s Vestry and as a lay reader. He was an engaged public citizen, active in the school board and in the Minnesota Dental Association. John was less visible in the community since his diagnosis with pulmonary hypertension in 1999, and he had been largely homebound since 2005.
An active outdoorsman, John spent the summers of his youth at the cabin his family built in the 1920s on Dunbar Lake south of Northome. Once in the Falls, he spent time on the lakes and in the woods of northern Minnesota and southern Ontario. In the 1970s and 80s be became an avid horsepacker, enjoying annual big game hunting trips in the mountains of Wyoming with his son, Guy. John and Waiva enjoyed exploring new places, tracking down members of their extended families, finding good used book stores, and visiting with children and grandchildren in California, Wyoming, Maryland, and Florida. They established a winter home in Rockport, Texas, where they were active in St. Peter’s Episcopal Church.
John is survived by his wife Waiva; his son Guy of Riverton, Wyo.; his daughter Jan of Owings Mills, Md., his son David of Claremont, Calif.; his daughter Laura of International Falls; and 10 grandchildren.
A public memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, May 30, at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church.
Memorials can be given to Holy Trinity or to Citizens for Backus/Alexander Baker.