In the December 29, 2025, issue of Perpetuating Factors: The Janet Travell Foundation Newsletter, Janet Street, granddaughter of Dr. Janet Travell, shared that
“On December 18, 2025, Janet Travell called her youngest daughter home.”
Virginia Powell Street passed away at RegalCare Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield, MA, following a brief stay at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, MA. She was 90 years old.
Ms. Street was an accomplished fine artist, author, and co-founder of the Janet Travell Foundation. From April 2014 to June 2022, she published over 150 articles about Dr. Travell.
Janet Travell (1901-1997) had two daughters, Janet Powell Pinci and Virginia Powell Street. Janet Powell Pinci passed away on June 16, 2023, in Bali, Indonesia. She was a gifted musician and had a successful career as an opera singer. After her first marriage to James McAlee ended, she moved to Milan, Italy, to pursue her career. There she met Vinicio Pinci, and they got married in 1962. They spent part of each year in Milan, part in Spain, and part in Shelter Island, RI.
Virginia Powell Street earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture from Cornell University in 1956. A lifelong artist, she worked in sculpture and painting, gaining recognition throughout her career. While living in Nashville, Tennessee, she was active in the Nashville Artists Guild and taught art at Ensworth School. She later became a fine artist for Jumps by Fuzzy for over 15 years, painting horse jumps for major equestrian events across the United States, including Madison Square Garden. In 1995, she moved to Massachusetts and cared for her aging mother. After Dr. Travell’s death, Street co-founded the Janet Travell Foundation.
Ms. Street authored the biography “Janet Travell, MD: White House Physician and Trigger Point Pioneer,” edited by her daughter Janet, and designed by her granddaughter Janet. This book is filled with archival and family photos, letters, and pieces of history, from her childhood growing up in New York City in the early 1900s to her pioneering work in myofascial pain treatment. It is the first biography of the first woman to serve as physician to the President of the United States. Virginia felt strongly that the story of Dr. Janet Travell deserved a place in American women’s history for her achievements and contributions to medicine.
Ms. Street invited Jan Dommerholt to write the foreword of the biography.
Throughout the past 20 years, Jan Dommerholt frequently communicated with Virginia, often about a lecture her mother Janet Travell had given somewhere sometime. Or when we tried to figure out when and where Dr. Travell discussed a particular topic. Without fail, Virginia usually had the answer either the same day or within just a few days. Her daughter Janet Street, co-founder of the Janet Travell Foundation, will continue the work of the Foundation. In her words,
"I wish to thank my mother Virginia Powell Street for her many contributions over the years as an author, archivist, historian, and walking encyclopedia of all things Dr. Travell. Ms. Street left behind an historical archive of correspondence, articles, memorabilia and other interesting materials that will become part of the foundation’s research materials. Ms. Street cared deeply about her mother’s legacy, and dedicated many years of her life writing the articles and biography, and overseeing the preservation of Dr. Travell’s papers. To my dearest Mom, thank you!