Janelle M. Balkin

Janelle (Cox) Balkin September 30, 1918 - July 26, 2019 was born and raised in rural Missouri and studied under Thomas Hart Benton in Kansas City Missouri. She moved to California where she finished college and became part of the Los Angeles art community.

In 1939 she married Leslie Grimes, an Australian born artist who was also a light heavyweight wrestling champion of Canada. They traveled extensively and work together as he transitioned to American muralism where he became well-known. He died in a three story fall while doing an outdoor mural for the Farmer John meat packing plant in Los Angeles California.

During her middle years Janelle studied business administration but never gave up her painting. In 1958 she married SW Balkin, DPM, the doctor who developed the procedure for injecting fluid silicone into diabetic feet to prevent amputation. This work is documented at Roseland Franklin University, Chicago, Illinois. Janelle managed her husband's research practice for 30 years, collaborating in writing his papers and aiding in a research program in Manchester, England. She has two sons 20 years apart, Winston Grimes, a time retired F AAA quality assurance engineer and Lee Balkin a noted athlete and current realtor and college instructor in Glendale California. She also leaves a granddaughter, Karlee Grace Balkin.

Both Janelle and the doctor were politically active, including civil rights, and exposing generated scams in the medical field. They share a single plaque in the court of freedom, Forest lawn, Glendale. It reads as follows: Our remains lie over the Sierra but our voice it is here. It cries out against the evils of religion and pleads for rationality and peace.