Josephine Belle McNamara, 89, of Milford, KS, passed away on November 7, 2019. Johnson Funeral Home is assisting the family with burial arrangements.
Burial services are pending.
Memorial contributions are suggested to donors organization of choice.
Josephine was born on August 23rd, 1930 in Ingleside, Illinois, to James and Bertha (Ott) Kirby. She attended school in North Chicago, Illinois. After high school, she was married to Nicolas Peters in 1949. They had 6 children: Sandra, Sheila, Daniel, Garrett, Yvonne, Robert, and Kelly. She stayed at home to raise her children until 1971.
Josephine worked at Wisconsin Envelope and Culligan. In 1986 she married Ron (Mac) McNamara and moved to Milford, Kansas. They have a small farm raising beef cattle which she thoroughly enjoyed helping maintain. She met many new friends in Kansas. She developed her love for baking when she moved to Kansas: cakes, banana bread, and fudge. She would send baked goods back home to her kids, even all the way to Hawaii. She was known for her fudge and banana bread. At Christmas, it was nothing for her to make 100 pounds of fudge to give away. It didn’t matter if you were the banker, cable company, garbage man, meter reader, mail carrier, DS&O Electric of Solomon, KS, and let’s not forget the fire stations too. You were getting fudge. She also had a signature dish she cooked; her fried pork chops and gravy.
She loved going to Cracker Barrel and the sale barn where she was affectionately known as “Miss Jo”. She was kind to everyone and loved making people happy.
She will be deeply missed by all.
She is survived by her loving family: husband Mac; 5 of 6 of her children, her three daughters, Sandra L. (Wayne) Tamashiro of Honolulu, HI, Sheila K. (Jim) Hanson of Beach Park, IL , and Yvonne (Andrew) Snider of Inman, SC; her two sons, Robert (Mynda) Peters of Manhattan, KS, and Kelly Peters of Kenosha, WI; her eight grandsons, Travis Tamashiro, Scott Diggs, Timothy (Leann) Diggs, Justin (Desiree) Diggs, Matthew Peters, Jacob (Liz) Snider, Jared (Izzy) Snider, Garrett DeVoe; her five granddaughters, Brenda Diggs, Rebecca Peters, Lauren Peters, Emma Peters, and Chivaughnne (Charlie) Zorc; her 20 great-grandchildren; 1 great-great-grandchild; her three sister-in-laws, Jean Kirby of Desoto, WI, Marylan Kirby of Burlington, WI, and Dorothy Richardson (her best friend and dancing partner) of Round Lake, IL; and a host of loving family and friends.
She was preceded in death by her son, Daniel Garrett Peters (1979, her parents, and her 5 brothers, James, William, Arthur, Eugene, and Robert Kirby.