Norwalk — Jacob John Menn, 101, died Aug. 23, 2024. Jacob John Menn was born Sept. 29, 1922, in Sheldon Township, Monroe County, outside Norwalk, Wisconsin, on the family farmhouse. The third of Benjamin and Tony Menn’s four children, Jake grew up on Jersey Vale Farm, where he was born. He helped milk the dairy herd by hand and by machine, collected eggs and helped in the garden that provided food for the long Wisconsin winters. In the summer, he especially loved playing in Morris Creek, fishing, swimming and rafting. And his favorite food was homemade ice cream, since as the smallest participant in its production he got to lick the stirrer. As he grew, filling silos and threshing became his favorite farm chores.
He attended the Spring Valley Schoolhouse through the eighth grade and then attended high school in Norwalk. He graduated second in his class in 1940 and went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison to study chemistry. As a child, he had suffered from osteomyelitis and nearly lost a leg; as a result, he was classified as a 4F soldier and could not fight in World War II. Instead, he left Madison and returned to Norwalk to work on the farm during the war. When he returned to college, he resumed his chemistry studies and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. There he met Anna Katherine Fletcher, the great love of his life, whom he married on December 27, 1947. Jake and Katherine then moved to the San Francisco area of California, where he worked as a chemist for the Shell Chemical Company. In California, he enjoyed collecting rocks, singing in a barbershop quartet, and becoming a father. Their four children were all born there. After his transfer to New York City, he established a garden in their new home in Suffern, NY, where he grew both food and flowers and shared his love of gardening with his children. He built them a trapeze and a swing for the apple tree in their yard, as well as a wagon made entirely of wood, including the wheels. Both in Suffern and later in the St. Louis, Missouri, area, where they subsequently lived, he became an innovative Sunday school teacher, broadening the youth’s horizons and awareness of people living under completely different conditions.
His work at Shell shifted from chemicals to agricultural applications, and he was put in charge of selling the products to the agricultural industry. This led to long car journeys. In the breaks between journeys, he became interested in antiques, appreciating the craftsmanship of Victorian and other period furniture, cast iron work and really anything that reveals the human capacity to create beauty, something he valued throughout his life. All family holidays when he worked for Shell were spent on the farm where he was born.
Jake continued to help his father with the dairy and cattle herds during this time, and expanded the farm and ranch. When he retired from Shell at 55, he became a full-time rancher and named the Devil’s Hole Ranch after a saying from his great-grandmother, a 19th-century German immigrant who had spent a long time winter searching for lost cattle in one of the valleys. He enjoyed riding his favorite horse, Jenny, through the valleys and over the hills while tending the Angus cattle and looking at the tall trees of the forest like cathedrals. He planted a small vineyard and apple orchard to experiment with varieties that might thrive in this climate. The ranch hosted wonderful annual get-togethers that included not only working the cattle, but dancing, feasting, games for children and adults, and honoring all who helped or cared. He and his wife, Katherine, a longtime teacher at Kickapoo High School, also enjoyed attending the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, the annual performances of “The Nutcracker” in Milwaukee with their children and grandchildren, and being Santa and Mrs. Claus at Christmas wherever they were: on plane rides, visiting family (at airports, strangers asked for photo ops, as did TSA personnel), shopping (especially on Black Friday, when he was once taken out of line and then asked to hand out candy canes at the door—they put his Black Friday special back for him). In the spring, Jake and Katherine would dress in wildly colorful, rather outlandish dresses and hats and spread the joy of the new season while shopping or visiting friends throughout the area. When Katherine retired and was ready to give up cooking, Jake took over and discovered he loved it as much as grocery shopping. This became a tradition of giving food to friends and family, especially in the fall, his favorite time of year when nature is so bountiful. He would give away 50-pound sacks of potatoes to family, friends and neighbors to celebrate the holidays.
In his final years, he still enjoyed driving around the countryside, especially around the ranch, watching the crops grow and enjoying the beauty of the woods and sky. He remained a storyteller to the end, especially known for his humorous adventure stories of Lonesome Jake and Pretty Kitty, with which he entertained his children, grandchildren and guests on the farm, which for several years was Lonesome Jake’s Bed and Breakfast. He cooked breakfast and served it with stories and laughter. A treasure of local lore, Jake remembered the story told to him as a boy by settler Bill Faulke, who during a harsh winter saw one of the last Native American families in the area gratefully eat a deer down to the entrails when he offered to give them some food.
Jake is an advocate of a strong work ethic, and one of his favorite sayings was “Go for it, boy!” At age two, his first grandchild called him “Big Jake!”, a name he has borne in the family ever since. Jake was named after his grandfather, Jacob John Menn, of the Menn family who settled in Monroe County, part of the Driftless region, in the 1850s. Jake’s own grandson, also named Jacob John Menn, sums him up this way: “Big Jake is a passionate man; for farming, for growing fruit and flowers, for education and lifelong learning, for people of all kinds, for beauty in all its forms, for culture, music and art, but most of all for his family and his pride in all our varied accomplishments and in building upon the foundations laid by our predecessors.”
Jake was preceded in death by his wife Katherine Menn, his parents Ben and Tony Menn, his brothers John Menn and James Menn, his sister Jean Stewart and a granddaughter, Heidi Putterill.
He is survived by his four children, Jeffrey (Doc) Menn (Paula), Jessica Ambelang (Thomas), Jacqueline Erwin, Katherine (Twinky) Satterthwaite (Richard); 13 grandchildren and 44 great-grandchildren.
After a phone call, Jake said goodbye with the words: “May God bless you and protect you and give you a lottery win.”
Burial and a memorial service for Jake’s life will be held at a later date. Online condolences may be made at www.vossfh.com.
