Josephine Wilkinson McGowan

Graveside services for Josephine Wilkinson McGowan, 96, will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday December 28, 2022 located at Forest Park West Cemetery, 4000 Meriwether Rd, Shreveport, LA 71109.  Officiating the service will be Msgr. Rothell Price.  

Josephine was born in Eureka, Texas November 15,1926 to Henry and Ina Mae Wilkinson and went to be with the Lord on December 24, 2022 in Shreveport.   She grew up in the Kauffman Texas area until she moved to Shreveport to attend nursing school.  There she met the love of her life,  Daly Russ McGowan. They were married in April, 1948 and enjoyed a great life together until his death in 1987.  She worked as an RN in the emergency room and on the floor at the old Schumpert Hospital where she made several lifelong friends. She also worked at the Confederate Memorial Blood bank which later became LSU/Ochsner Hospital and for a time worked at Shriners Hospital.

 Josephine had many interests outside of work. She loved to swim and took synchronized swimming classes, got her scuba certification and later took karate lessons with her youngest son Scott.  She was “Granny” to her grandkids and “Jo” or “Mac” to her friends.

 She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Daly Russ McGowan, daughter Patricia McGowan Lang, sisters Mary Jane May, Ima Jean Steward and Etta Bernice Sullivan. Left to cherish her memory are sons Daly Ryan McGowan and wife Cindy and Scott McGowan, her 5 grandchildren Dionne Viers and fiance’ Michael Paul Murray, Marie Lee, Chad Lang, Stacie Lang and Brian Hope and wife Ginger,  8 great-grandchildren Lexi Viers, Michelle Woodson, Haley Whitt, Felicia Whitt, Elizabeth Lee, Hali Brown, Dayton and Autumn Hope as well as 9 great-great-grandkids.

Special thanks to the amazing staff at Montclair Assisted Living for their loving care of Granny.  You all treated her like your family and created for her a warm and loving home these last 8 years.  Most of all to granddaughter Dionne and great granddaughter Lexi Viers for the weekly visits, Bundt cakes, beauty sessions, decorating and the many other things you both did to make her life better.  She felt such love from both of you. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to St. Mary of the Pines Catholic Church, 1050 Bert Kouns Industrial Loop, Shreveport, LA 71118.