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1916
2017
Josephine Bevacqua, 101, passed away December 9, 2017, surrounded by her loving family at home in Dallas, Texas, where she spent most of her life. She was the last of five siblings, born August 4, 1916, in Tabasco, Colorado to Attilio Bevacqua and Lucrezia Perri Bevacqua, immigrants from Calabria, Italy, to pass from this world.
Her early life was hard, as her father left the family, and her mother, who didn't speak English, could not support her five children. At the age of 2 or 3, Josephine and her older sister, Elissa, were placed with St. Joseph's Orphanage of Dallas for about 10 years. Their mother eventually found employment as a seamstress first at Neiman Marcus, then Bifano Furs, and reunited her family.
Josephine was the first of her siblings to graduate from high school. She graduated from Forest Avenue High School in 1935. Just before the start of World War II she got her big job at Republic Bank, where she worked for 42 years until her retirement in 1981 at age 65. She remembered one day in particular. She walked out to Main Street on Nov. 22, 1963, to watch the presidential motorcade pass – only minutes before it would turn onto Elm, where President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Josephine never married. She and her sister, Amelia, always lived close to each other in East Dallas. Appropriately called feisty, Josephine once held off a mugger by attacking back. She became known as the Cookie Lady for baking and delivering cookies to friends and family.
She lived her final years with her niece, Joanne Wilson, in East Dallas, who cared for "JoJo" until her own untimely death July 9, 2017. Great-niece Dana and husband Dr. Perry Beckstrom, along with sweet Bella the dachshund, continued to care for Josephine until her death. She is survived by numerous nieces and nephews and their families.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to your favorite children's charity, in honor of her desire to help children based on her time and experience at St. Joseph's Orphanage. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday Dec 14, with Rosary at 7 p.m. at Sparkman-Crane Funeral Home on Garland Road. The Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. Friday Dec 15 at Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, with burial to follow at Calvary Hill Cemetery. Arrangements under the direction of Sparkman-Crane Funeral Home, Dallas, TX.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Sponsored by Sparkman-Crane Funeral Home.
3 Entries
December 13, 2017
We're so sorry for your families lost. We hope that you are being comfort by your family and friends and many happy memories.
December 13, 2017
JULIETTE BECKER
Farewell my sweet Aunt. You graced this world for a century plus. You are the end of an era that will never be forgotten or replicated. You were another strong, independent Bevaxqua woman. The stregth of you, your mother and sisters influenced and inspired genertations that followed. I love you and will nver forget you.
December 12, 2017
May God's loving kindness comfort you and help you through this very sad time
Psalms 29:11
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