Menyon Y. Greenaway

Menyon Yolanda Davis Greenaway was born October 28, 1967 to (the late) Hattie Mae Davis Garvin and Thomas Montgomery on Halsey Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. During her early childhood years, she was affectionately called “Londa” by the family, and several other nicknames as a baby and small child -- one of which was a private one given by her oldest brother “Meat Market” -- and only her brothers and sisters were privy to that, and no one else!  During those times, the family was always important and being and staying together was immediate.  It was how our mother personified her household.

Yolanda was born at a time when we were coming to the close of the late ’60s, and like most Black families of those days, we were caught in a struggle.  You had to learn to make good solid decisions on how to survive.  Yolanda’s early childhood years included her attending P.S. 221 in Crown Heights in the early ’70s.  During her early pre-teen years, towards the end of the ’70s, the family relocated back to Bed-Stuy to Lafayette Gardens where she attended J.H.S. 117. Yolanda would then move on to attend Eastern District High School where she graduated in 1986.  She attended Business School, and once she completed this venture in her life, she worked for the NYC Department of Finance.  Following this, Yolanda worked for the hospital union, Local 1199, where she served for more than twenty years.  (During this time, she gave birth to her daughter and only child Sharon Kiara Menyon Davis in 1996.)  Yolanda remained with 1199 until she retired.

While raising her only daughter to become a young woman in her own right, Sharon later produced Yolanda’s only grandchild, Shahir Wallen. Yolanda would get the opportunity to see her daughter receive her Bachelor's degree and later her Master’s, which was one of the highlights that she was “overly excited about” … and rightfully so.  

Through the eyes of her daughter, this made her revisit life, and her life and its trajectory.  Sharon brought her mother home to Georgia where she eventually moved.  Once Yolanda became ill, she returned to New York for medical treatment, and succumbed to her illness on Tuesday, May 9, 2023.

She leaves to mourn and cherish her memory, her beloved daughter and grandson, ten brothers, seven sisters, a total of eighty-eight nieces and nephews, other relatives, and a host of friends.  The family would also like to send a warm thank you to Paula Blakney for helping Yolanda during her time of illness, and for the organic help she delivered.

To send flowers to the family, please visit our floral store.