Minqua (Joyce) Martineau

Minqua (Joyce) Martineau died Friday, Aug. 1 of complication from pneumonia at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Wash.

Minqua was born Joyce Ann Schrader in New York, N.Y. on Oct. 30, 1946. She spent most of her childhood in Dallstown, Pa. with her brother John and her parents. Min moved to California in 1967, where she met and married Jack Thurston in 1972 and moved to Mt. Hull. They designed and built their own log cabin and Min showed her pioneer spirit by growing and canning her own food with no running water or electricity. Their daughter, Maya, was delivered at home during a blizzard in December of 1973. In July of 1976, when Min was eight months pregnant the Whiskey Cache Creek fire nearly took her small log cabin. At the last moment the wind changed direction and the fire was pushed away from the cabin. She named her son Cache after the fire that had blessedly spared her home.

They moved to a small apple orchard in the Okanogan Valley. She continued to grow much of her own good, bake her own bread and now with electricity she sewed many of her own clothes. Her youngest daughter, Janna, was born in July of 1979. In 1984 Min and Jack divorced; she remarried to Herman Martineau whom she later divorced.

She worked as a mental health councilor in Tonasket while getting her Masters degree in psychology through Heritage College. Min found great personal satisfaction from helping individuals and her community in general. She dedicated the whole of her life to helping others and taking care of those who needed it. She always encouraged everyone in her life to strive for happiness. She will be greatly missed by her many friends and her loving family.

She is survived by her three children: Maya, Cache and Janna Thurston; and her four grandchildren.

There will be a memorial held for Minqua Martineau at the Tonasket Cultural Center on Saturday, Aug. 16 at 4:30 p.m. Her family would like to encourage anyone close to Min to come and join them in remembering her.