Josephine Julia (Uhrich) MCCOUN

MCCOUN, UHRICH, KOHOUTEK, DYE, ORMAN, FURNISH, JENSEN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/25/2011 at 18:20:45

September 5, 1913 -- July 24, 2011

MASON CITY — Josephine Julia (Uhrich) McCoun, 97, of Mason City, died Sunday, July 24, 2011, at the Muse Norris Inpatient Unit in Mason City. A funeral Mass will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 27, at Holy Family Catholic Church, 714 N. Adams, Mason City. Burial will be in the Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery in Mason City. Visitation will be held from 4 until 7 p.m. on Tuesday, at the Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapel, 126 Third St. NE, Mason City, where there will be a Scriptural Wake service at 6 p.m., followed by the parish rosary.

Josephine Julia (Uhrich) McCoun was born on Sept. 5, 1913, in Yankton, S.D., the daughter of August and Frances “Fanny” (Kohoutek) Uhrich. The family moved to Mason City in 1916. Josephine attended McKinley and Lincoln schools and then Holy Family High School where she was a member of the first graduating class in 1930. Josephine moved back to Yankton to get a Normal Training Certificate at the Yankton College and to teach for two years in a South Dakota rural school.

In 1934, Josephine was united in marriage to Jesse “Bud” McCoun in Mason City, and to this union three children were born: Elizabeth Ann, Thomas Joseph and Mary Margaret. Jesse preceded her in death in 1979 in Oregon City, Ore. Josephine worked at the Mode-O-Day sewing factory and then took classes at North Iowa Area Community College and Drake University to receive her B.A. in education plus an endorsement to teach special education. She taught in Belmond, and Hoover School in Mason City until her retirement in 1976. Josephine was a lifetime parishioner of Holy Family Catholic Church. She was a member of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Saint Esther Circle and the Rosary Makers. She had charge of the Holy Family Special Education program for several years.

She was very close to her ten grandchildren, inviting them for overnight weekends and taking them on short summer vacations, a few children at a time. Her sixteen great-grandchildren have been a special joy, as well as her two great-great grandchildren. Sewing was a lifetime enjoyment for Josephine, from doll clothes to people clothes to altar linens, craft sale items, and quilts. Dancing, crocheting and baking were also her favorites. She said she enjoyed being old because “everyone is so good to me” — children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and friends.

Those left to cherish her memory are her two children, Elizabeth “Betty” (McCoun) Dye, of Mason City, and Tom McCoun, of Mason City; ten grandchildren, sixteen great-grandchildren, and two great-great grandchildren; son-in-law, Virgil Orman and special friend Barb Furnish, of Mason City; numerous nieces, nephews and other extended family members and friends. Josephine was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Jesse McCoun; daughter, Mary Orman; and a sister, Helen Jensen; and a son-in-law, Gordon Dye. Hogan-Bremer-Moore Colonial Chapel.

Mason City Globe Gazette - Iowa
July 25, 2011