Josephine Basgall, 94, of Overland Park, Kansas passed away February 13, 2019 at St. Luke’s South Hospital in Overland Park, Kansas. Ms. Basgall was born April 23, 1924, in Morrison Bluffs, Arkansas. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Thursday, May 9, 2019, here at Saint Joseph’s. Jo’s final resting place is at Lakin Comanche Cemetery.

Jo was preceded in death by her husband S.S. Basgall. Survivors include her daughter, Nanette Rousselot of Overland Park, Kansas; sons, Tim Basgall of Lawrence, Kansas, and Chris Basgall of Owosso, Michigan; sisters, Ann Frietsche and Nita Perry; four grandchildren, Paul, Matthew, Ashley, and Jacob; and two great grandchildren, Aidan and Hailey Basgall.

The Basgall family were parishioners here for many years. In his homily, Father Klein noted that Jo began life as an Arkansas farm girl. She “had to milk cows before she would go to school and picked cotton along with all the other farm chores,” her son Chris wrote. Jo never lost her deep connection to the soil. It would find expression in her garden and in her love of flowers. Her daughter Nanette wrote, “She could grow anything but weeds. Her flowers were big, colorful, and beautiful. Her tomatoes sweet and delicious. My mother would be up at dawn to work in the garden all morning.”

Jo began the adventure of adult life at a very early age, responding to what was asked of her and other young American women by President Franklin Roosevelt. At age seventeen, she left home to begin wartime factory work. Jo became a wartime welder, building airplanes. That’s where she met Bennie, the man whom she would marry. Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord, and thank you for sharing Josephine with us!