Phil's complete memorial
Obituary of Janelle (Rene) Esau Corkill
Janelle (Rene) Esau Corkill was born in Newton, Kansas, to Patricia E. and John P. Esau on 18 November 1970. She joined her brother Jon as the two children of this Esau family.
Janelle lost her battle with cancer on 17 February 2021. Janelle was 50 years of age. She was the beloved wife of Stephen Corkill, friend, lover, and soul mate. Their children, Lily (15), Eve (14), Anna (11), and Levi (10) will greatly miss their energetic, creative, proactive, nurturing, mother who loved the parenting partnership with Stephen in enabling their children to grow into independent, responsible, self-assured, persons of faith, and socially productive individuals. Janelle understood what it meant to be a thinking parent in her interaction with her family.
As a pre-teen, around the age of 8, Janelle moved with her family to Topeka from Reedley, California. This was difficult for her as she had developed some great friendships in her elementary school in California. She was good at choosing good friends and moving meant a loss for her.
Janelle came to Topeka and started school at Maude Bishop elementary where she was challenged to develop new friendships. One of her life long best friends lived across the street from us; but we, as parents, recognized that she was struggling with relationships having lost what she had enjoyed in CA. We asked how we could help her adapt. That is when she asked for a horse. For her parents that was a surprise and a challenge and a half! We did find a place to board a horse, so we needed to find a horse that she would enjoy.
A barber who was cutting Phil’s hair at that time, in barber/client conversation, mentioned that he had a horse, which he kept in a pasture with his cattle. He had not ridden this horse for over a year and the barber didn’t think that would change. After some negotiation, a visit to the flint hills pasture, we bought the horse and brought him to the pasture of a friend and planted a saddle on him. Phil rode him first, and it became clear that he had enjoyed his premature retirement. He was perhaps 6 years old, in the prime of his life. Janelle took to him quickly and he was really fine with her. She named him Prince Charlie Quodiyaque, and enjoyed the beauty of this Arabian/Quarter horse cross. He was showy, with neck and tail arched as she rode him. We didn’t know that he had been trained to do dressage, and did it well. Janelle loved this horse and rode him frequently, most of the time without a saddle. He was her emotional outlet as she adjusted to Topeka.
In the past couple of years Janelle agreed to participate in the Manhattan Mennonite Church Faith Formation Team as one of several individuals charged with generating effective direction for faith development among church participants and also, as of last summer, the Gifts Discernment Committee, charged with discerning congregational gifts and engaging the whole body in the ministry of the church. She was dedicated in this work and loved being involved. Among people of faith, she was described as one who demonstrated the high value of unconditional, indiscriminate love of anyone with whom she had contact. This value, generated from her deep faith and choices to engage those in the most desperate of need, had broad implications for the way she lived her life.
Janelle’s faith development was conscious, and it received its impetus from numerous experiences in which she chose to participate with other faith partners in addressing the needs of the marginalized. While at Hesston College and in an interim learning experience in the Chicago Projects (Urban Life Center) she and a group of college students worked in a community among the poorest of the poor helping provide basic needs in this city. The experience among the poorest, marginalized in our society in Chicago added to the work project experience in which she participated as a High School youth on a trip to Appalachia among the poorest hill country folk. She frequently, in her youth, reflected on those homes with broken floors, no insulation in the walls, outdoor privies (toilets), and walls covered in newspaper to keep out the cold and heat, and absence of basic services. These experiences, both in Chicago and Appalachia, awakened in her a compassion and empathy that incentivized so many expressions of love and care for others. This was evident throughout her adult life as she interacted with folk through her volunteer work, her professional career, and her church involvement.
Janelle’s, along with Stephen’s, love of music encouraged and enabled the children to develop their music talent both with instrumentation and voice. As one who played the piano well, she drove many miles in transporting to lessons making sure their children had every opportunity to enjoy their growth in their chosen areas of interest. Along with music involvement their children are involved with many school activities including class organization leadership, music and drama presentations, and participation in sports. They are also successful students; a bar set by their parents with the assurance that each child is capable of excellent work.
Pat and Phil well remember Janelle winning the Congressional Dist. #2 art contest while in High School, receiving a trip to Washington D.C. after designing a collage that was displayed on the underground walkway to the Senate office buildings. Kansas Legislator Jim Slattery hosted her as one of the honored art recipients. Her artistic talent was evident in her excellent award-winning web designs and is also evident in her children who demonstrate those same creative talents.
As a K-State championship rower, she became the president of the K-State Women’s rowing association and worked hard at moving that sport from a club sport into the NCAA organization. They were the first rowers at K-State to achieve that status after tenacious negotiation amid political barriers that she and her leadership team faced and prevailed. The following year, under the Title 9 umbrella, the women’s K-State rowing organization transitioned and operated under NCAA rules and benefits.
Janelle, with Stephen, was an avid family lobbyist for outdoor activities and travel, planning a Grand Canyon hike in May of this year. Their plan was to hike the Grand Canyon to the Colorado River, a family adventure. The family will do this hike as planned in May.
Janelle loved to plan their travels and was detailed in designing daily excursions to sights and events among their travels. The planning provided opportunities for the children to gain knowledge of those locations they visited internationally and locally. They have often reflected on those experiences and are aware of their privilege in participating in such wonderful adventurous experiences offering such a broad view of the world.
Janelle was a dedicated volunteer in her school district, USD-384 Blue Valley, at Randolph, KS. She worked to establish an extensive library for children and led the PTO as president in progressive and effective directions. She was greatly respected in her role as leader among parents planning and carrying out special fund-raising events that benefitted both the sports programs, and academic involvements that offered opportunities for growth in a broad array of education areas.
She was a greatly valued employee as a web specialist at K-State Division of Communication and Marketing. Her work included K-State web design both for the University web site and for individual colleges webs, portal transition, and reporting to the provost regarding goals and services of K-State communication. Janelle received dozens of awards for her creative work, granted by CASE (Council for Advancement and Support in Education). Recently she was the recipient of three awards for her work with web designs. Grand Gold for prospective University students in finding programs in their interest areas; Gold for #kstatestrong campaign in the digital communications-social media category; and Gold in K-State Online website in the digital communications – institutional websites category. Janelle’s director shared that Janelle was involved in every major K-State web initiative since their website began.
Most people don’t know that Janelle was a “wheatie” (that’s a custom harvester employee) for a summer. She and a friend, Laurie, joined Dad’s crew and drove a service vehicle and even delivered wheat by truck to the elevator a number of times. The main task of the two teens, only 14 yrs of age at the time, was to make sure the crew had food 3 times a day, assisting in moving from job to job, and helping in other ways as needed. Both teens seemed to find time to have fun while they earned a few bucks working harvest. There was very little that Janelle wasn’t willing to tackle, including changing oil in her car.
At the age of 15 Janelle decided to take a trip to Kenya, East Africa, to visit aunt and uncle and cousins who were near Nakuru as missionaries. She had four weeks with this family during which she visited game parks, chased bush hares on motorcycles and other vehicles, and explored Nairobi with a favorite cousin. She had a wonderful time even though flying alone and making decisions in critical situations like not having money to get back on a plane to fly home. She was always resourceful at times when she needed to be.
In another year while in college she visited a cousin, Paul, in Dominican Republic. Paul was an educator in an international school and invited Janelle to come enjoy this Central American country. He had time to spend with her showing the sights in the country, spending time at the beach, and noting the social dynamics of this country. After Janelle’s visit Paul transported her back to the airport on his motorcycle. Once she was loaded on the bike, with her suitcase and carry on, they motored down the street and promptly lost the suitcase. It wasn’t badly damaged, but a bottle of vanilla opened inside providing a wonderful aroma saturated into her clothing. She took it all in stride and shared fond memories of her visit to the D.R.
One of Janelle’s last expressed thoughts was her concern for the wellbeing of her children. She had become aware of her vulnerable state and imagined them growing up without her. She saw a life experience with family she certainly did not want to miss.
