Joanne Martin Jenkins' Obituary
Joanne Martin Jenkins was born Friday, September 13, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois. She attended nursing school in Baltimore, where she met and fell in love with a Johns Hopkins student from Bartlett, Tennessee, George William “Buddy” Jenkins II. They married and moved to Knoxville, and then to Memphis. Joanne worked as a nurse at the Kennedy VA Hospital on Getwell, and then became nighttime emergency room supervisor at John Gaston Hospital, predecessor to The Med. She wrote the first policy and procedure manual for that emergency room. She saved many lives Easter Sunday night, 1960, by evacuating mothers and babies when the next door neighbor to John Gaston, Russwood Park, burned down. Once all of her children were in school, she enrolled in Memphis State University and earned her BSN. Later, she attended Memphis State Law School, and in 1983 received her JD degree. She worked as an attorney with the Hardison Law Firm and then the Wagerman Law Firm. Throughout all this time at various times, she was a Den Mother, Scoutmaster spouse, Girl Scout leader, Ombudsman for nursing home residents, and tutor for Sherwood Elementary students. Joanne was extremely active in the Church of the Holy Spirit, helping with the Loaves and Fishes Food Ministry, the Parish Social Ministry, the Bereavement Ministry, the Holly Shoppe, and the Fun Group. As a retiree she traveled to Haiti to help with the medical mission the church supports. Until her last few years, she served as a Lector at Sunday and daily Masses. Joanne was a special friend to Mother Teresa’s Shelter and the Sisters of Charity who staff the shelter. She prepared dinner for the shelter monthly for many years and in the summertime made lunch for the day campers, enlisting others of her family in that lunch preparation. Joann’s husband, Dr. George Jenkins, predeceased her by 13 years. She missed him every day of those 13 years, though she did enjoy her large and growing family. She was eager to join her husband in Heaven. Joanne Jenkins passed away at Methodist Hospice Residence on Tuesday, January 26, 2016. All of her family called her, “Gammy”. Gammy leaves behind her sons, Dr. Bruce Jenkins (Katrina), Judge Bill Jenkins (Laura), and daughters, Annette Hayden (Dan), Kathy Merrick (Nigel), Carolyn Carter, and Debbie Russell; 15 grand children, Chris, Ryan, Courtney, Ellen, Conor, Deirdre, Wade, Eric, Brennan, Tim, Austin, Grant, Rachel, Wendy, and Amy; 6 great-grandchildren; Zoe, Izabelle, Campbell, Liam, Penny, and Adriana, and truly, countless friends. The family will receive friends from 5-8 pm with a Rosary to begin at 8 on Friday, January 29 at Memorial Park Funeral Home. A Funeral Mass will be at 3:00 pm on Saturday, January 30 at Church of the Holy Spirit. The family requests any memorials may be sent to Missionaries of Charity.Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave. Memphis, TN 38119. “Celebrating Life… Behind the Stone Wall”
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