Marietta, GA - Menard Ihnen passed from this life into the next on October 25, 2017. The son of Harm and Anna Ihnen, he was born March 3, 1922 and grew up on a small family farm in Northeast Township outside of Golden Illinois, a farming community settled by East Frisian immigrants. He attended the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne. He enlisted the summer after Pearl Harbor and was instructed to join the active Army Reserves. In 1943 he was called up by the U.S. Army and assigned to medical school, attending the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago as a Private First Class. It was during this time that he met Rosemary Halldorson. Menard was awarded an M.D. in 1946 and interned with the U.S. Public Health Service at the U.S. Marine Hospital in Seattle, Washington. He and Rosemary married in 1947. He was called up to active duty at Fort Sam Houston and deployed to Okinawa and the Philippines, serving as a physician in the Medical Corps. After his service, he completed his residency in pathology at Washington University and Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.
Menard and Rosemary moved their family to Augusta, Georgia in 1955 where Menard had been recruited by University Hospital as pathologist in order to create its new clinical laboratory department, which he chaired for many years until his retirement. He also served on the faculty at the Medical College of Georgia. Menard and Rosemary were married for 65 years and together raised six children. Menard loved the outdoors and the land, and he and Rosemary lived with their children for over 30 years on Rosard Farm in Columbia County, later building a house on country acreage in Edgefield County, South Carolina. Over time, he raised cattle, pigs, chickens, horses, shetland ponies and sheep. For many years, Menard was an avid tennis player, playing several times a week with a group at the Augusta Country Club. He loved classical music, and played cello with the Augusta Symphony and in chamber music ensembles, and was also a singer in the Augusta Collegium Musicum and the Bach Society of South Carolina Choir. He and Rosemary attended the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection for over 55 years. Menard served on the board of Lutheran Services of Georgia, as well as the boards of the Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society and the Symphony Orchestra Augusta. He was a founding member of the board of Augusta Preparatory School. Over the years, he was active in the Richmond County Medical Society (past President); the Rotary Club of Augusta; and Georgia Health Decisions. After his retirement, Menard participated in forming a weekly group to meet and discuss wide ranging topics, which he often referred to as the Thursday Seminar; and he was pleased that it still continues to expand and flourish.
Menard was preceded in death by his wife Rosemary, sister Eunice, son Peter, and grandson Christopher. He is survived by his brother Loren Ihnen (Shirley), children Barbara Schipani (Frank- dec), Theodore Ihnen, Kristine Sampson (Mike), Nicholas Ihnen, and Noelle Hall (Reid), grandchildren Julia Hollinshead (John), Anne Schipani, Anthony Ihnen, Matthew Sampson, Andrew Hall, and Nathan Hall as well as many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. Services will be held Saturday, November 4 2017 at 1:30 p.m. at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, 625 Greene Street, Augusta Georgia. Arrangements will be handled by Platts Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, Developmental Disabilities Ministries (DDMGA.org) or the charity of one's choice.