Feb 20, 2014

Jo Ann 2/02/1942 - 2/09/2014

My sister - Jo Ann - I am 7 years her senior - when Bob and I married she was only 11...We remained in Covington for just one year - the balance of our life together we lived elsewhere - not close to mother and my two youngest siblings...The two years we were in San Jose, Ca. and the 13 years we lived in Chicago our visits with the family were few and far between... I believe JoAnn was only 15 years old when she married. She and Frank Smith had 7 children...6 boys and finally, the seventh was a girl!!!! Life was certainly not easy for them...they lost two of their children - one a teenager, the other a young adult - about 10 years ago she suffered a major heart attach that damaged over half of her heart and had lived with a disability every since. - Frank's mother was very ill for a long time and they took her into their home and cared for her. - JoAnn endured through many hardships - she endured with optimism and hopefulness..and I'm proud of her. She was always so tiny - most years did not weight 100 lbs..but she was one of the strongest persons that I've known. ..I'm grateful for the time last summer that she came to Alabama and spent a week with me !!! And I'm so thankful that I was able to go to Houston and spend a few days with her at the hospital before she died. When I think of her I will recall her "perkiness" and her forthrightness - and I will smile. She was always completely frank, without hesitation. I will celebrate her life with a toast and be thankful and proud that she was my sister. To her children -I pray that their sadness and great sense of loss will pass and that happy memories of their life together will be what remains. Her family was her life - her joy - what kept her going..now rest in peace little sister..I love you...

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