Joyce Fletcher Menard – the 2022 MC Historical Preservationist of the Year.

At their March 21 meeting, the MC Historical Preservation Board selected Joyce Fletcher Menard as the 2022 MC Historical Preservationist of the Year!

Alice L. Luckhardt (Martin County Historical Preservationist in 2013):

“I have known Joyce since about 2009. We have worked on numerous historical projects together over the years. We are also members of the local Stuart Halpatiokee Daughters of the American Revolution and have done many activates for local historical preservation. This included researching, writing and publishing the creation of the new DAR Chapter in 1949 and its early years. Today the Halpatiokee Chapter is the largest chapter in membership in all of Florida, with 110 chapters total.

Joyce’s work of preserving the complete history of the 1898 All Saints Church and the All Saints Cemetery has been ongoing. A stellar project a few years ago was writing and publishing the history of the lovely stained glass windows of All Saints Church, each one telling a story of the people of the area. A major element for the cemetery has been locating and gathering the history and GPS on each person buried at All Saints, especially veterans. Just her long hours of research and gathering of the true history of the church and cemetery should bring her to the forefront of being the county’s historical preservationist in 2022.

Joyce was just recognized March 11, 2022 by the Florida State DAR Society for her efforts on community genealogical projects. Joyce placed 3^rd in the state for her work in 2021 on the GPS grave locations at All Saints Cemetery placed on “Find A Grave’ and updating official cemetery records. This is out of a DAR membership in Florida of 11,000.”

About Joyce A Fletcher Menard.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Joyce A Fletcher Menard grew up in Jensen Beach, Florida, attended Martin County Schools, graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Health Education and was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. In December 1977, she is the first woman to be commissioned from the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at her alma mater.

While on active duty she earned a Master’s Degree in Healthcare Administration from the U.S. Army-Baylor University Program in 1986. She served on the Department of Defense development team for digital radiology. Digital radiology eliminated the use of film for storing X-ray images, which dramatically changed the practice of medicine. As the Department of Radiology Administrator, she was involved in the history making deployment of CT (computerized tomography) scanners to the battlefield during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm (November 1990). The testing in an academic radiology setting to one of real combat utilization all changed within a week’s time.

All Saints’ Episcopal Church Historian

2007-present – Published a monthly history column in the parish newsletter, The Trumpet.
2007 – 2017 – Provided weekly “History Moments”, which were oral three minute presentations Oct-May, at the Wednesday 10 a.m. Healing Service.
2008- present – Docent for tours of All Saints’ Episcopal Church presented during parish events and during Martin County’s Historic Preservation Month.
2009 – In collaboration with the Rev. W. Frisby Hendricks III, researched and authored the parish history for www.allsaintsjensenbeach.org
2015 – “Windows, Memorials and More, All Saints Episcopal Church, Jensen Beach, Florida” was published. Based on her research, she wrote of the families who provided the items found in the church from 1898-2015.
In collaboration with architect Paul Neff, AIA, using photos, archived drawings and first-hand knowledge, they established accurate scale drawings of the church. These documents show the church in its original configuration, the changes required with the 1963 move of the building, and through two expansion projects in 1979 and 1994. Without her first hand knowledge and archival efforts, this information would have been lost.
In 2020, she authored a column “We’ve Never Done It This Way Before” for “Pandemic in Paradise” which was a book compiled as a fund raiser for the Florida State Nurses Association while the pandemic was on going. This was on the impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic on the response by the church and parishioners.
Annually, provided presentations to widely diverse groups such as the Martin County Genealogical Society, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, Rotary Club, Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution and Colonial Dames 17^th Century.

All Saints’ Cemetery Board

2010– current –
Her service as the recording secretary resulted in the organization of the Board’s minutes file and the upgrade in the methods of documenting Board activities.

2020 – She was elected as the Board’s President and subsequently has facilitated: the update of the legal description of the property, a survey of the property with ground penetrating radar to identify all graves, especially those without markers and to collect GPS coordinates of every grave as of Jan 30 2021. With her team, she enabled the use of the website FindaGrave.com to provide the GPS locations, correct platted location of each grave and grave marker photos for those interred. This transfer of this information to the world wide web, enables family members, historians, genealogists access and directions to each grave.

2020 and 2021 – Joyce researched and published self-guided tour booklets as a fund raiser for tombstone restoration and irrigation system update. The first tour topic was the area pioneers and the second was veterans (Indian Wars – Vietnam).

All Saints' Episcopal Church, Jensen Beach, Florida. Olga Hamilton Photography and Art. Martin County Lifestyle Magazine Social Media Marketing, Photography and Video Prosuction on the Treasure Coast — All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Jensen Beach, Florida. Olga Hamilton Photography and Art

All Saints’ Episcopal Church and All Saints’ Cemetery Archivist

In 2018 and 2021 Her research and collaboration, with Julie Preast, resulted in All Saints’ Episcopal Church and All Saints’ Cemetery being placed upon the Martin County Register of Historic Sites respectively. These are two of the 20 sites on the Martin County Register of Historic Sites as of 2021.
2018 – 2020 She’s created a functional, indexed filing system which allows for the timely retrieval and filing of documents for both organizations and had flat storage built for proper storage of floor plans and maps.
All documents stored in buildings without air conditioning have been consolidated into an air conditioned room through her efforts.
Beginning in 2019, under Joyce’s leadership as the cemetery archivist, the following documentation is being consolidated: land records (plat maps), newspaper articles, sacramental and burial records from All Saints’ Episcopal Church and St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Stuart, scanned cemetery records, rolodex files, and outdated notebooks. This cemetery has more than 5,700 individuals interred.

Daughters of the American Revolution has historic preservation as one their three primary objectives.

2009 – Present – As a life member, she serves as a trained, volunteer genealogist at the local, state and national levels. More than 80 women have established their direct lineage to an American Revolutionary War participant/supporter through her research and collection of documentation. Seventeen new patriots have been documented and added to the DAR database, enabling others to join or know of their family history, through her efforts.

2012 – Present – As a member of the Florida Society’s State Speakers Staff from, Joyce has researched and provided lectures throughout southeast Florida on “Women in Today’s Military”, “Women in Vietnam” and most recently, “Florida Born Medal of Honor Recipients.”

On November 5^th, 2016, a DAR Historic Marker was placed at All Saints’ Cemetery based upon Joyce’s research and successful application preparation.

In 2019, along with DAR member Alice Luckhardt, she researched and co-authored “The Birth of Halpatiokee Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Seventy Years 1949 – 2019” to raise money on the local chapter’s 70^th anniversary

National Episcopal Historians and Archivists (NEHA)

Circa 2009, the NEHA annual Desk Calendar included a write-up on the historic All Saints’ Episcopal church, this synopsis she’s researched and provided and it was published.
“Faith of our Fathers, Living Still” is a multi-media presentation based upon genealogy resources and other archive media to track the faith roots of nine generations of her family within the Church of England and then the Episcopal Church in the United States. As an active member, Joyce’s presentation was given at the 3- day meeting sponsored by the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church (HSEC) and National Episcopal Historians and Archivists (NEHA) in New York, New York, 20-23 Jun 2017. The conference theme was “Immigration, Going Out and Coming In: Ministries, Transitions and Change in the Episcopal Church”
This presentation was also presented to the Martin County Genealogy Society.
She contributed to NEHA’s national effort to consolidate information on how individual parishes responded to the Covid 19 Pandemic.

She is a charter member of The Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation Inc. This organization established and supports the Military Women’s Memorial, which is a repository for the stories of women, past and present, who have served our nation, located at the gates of Arlington National Cemetery. Her career information is among the many women’s histories recorded there.