Josephine M. Mccracken

Josephine Morgan McCracken passed away after a lengthy illness at 8:40 p.m. Saturday, March 10, 2012 at The Caring Place in Franklin. She was 82.

She was the youngest of four children born to Emmett P. and Anna Hughes Morgan. She was a 1947 graduate of Franklin High School. While working as a nurse?s aide at the Franklin Hospital she found her calling and with encouraged by her mentor and subsequent lifelong friend Kate Jawdy Dodds, she enrolled in the Nursing Program at the Sharon School of Nursing. She received her R.N. in 1951.

In 1969 after working as a nurse at Polk Center and the Franklin Hospital, she and fellow Graduate Nurses Club members Ruthanne Nerlich and Avonlea (Avy) Erwin organized and started the Visiting Nurses in Oil City. In 1970 they expanded to include all Venango County. Josephine also was one of the organizers of the Franklin Meals-On-Wheels. For many years she remained on the Board of Directors of both organizations. She then went to work for the Easter Seal Society alongside her sister Mary Louise Mook, who served as director and had begun the Venango County Chapter of the Easter Seals. After her sister?s retirement, Josephine returned to the Visiting Nurses and retired from the VNA Homecare. Throughout her career as a nurse, organizer and volunteer she received many awards and certificates. In 1999 she was awarded Woman of the Year by the Franklin Area Chamber of Commerce.

She was active in the community. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church. She was a member of the Franklin Graduate Nurses Club and served on the board of the Franklin Cemetery. She volunteered for the Debence Antique Music World and the Venango County Historical Society. Her hobbies included oil painting, arts & crafts, music and fishing at the family cottage on French Creek.

On October 31, 1952 she married Raymond P. McCracken; he died November 26, 1989. Surviving are two sons Michael McCracken and Bradley Grace and his wife Mindy, seven grandchildren Amy, Andy, Danny, Caitlyn, Heidi, Hillary and Jason along with four great-grandchildren Destiny, Aidan, Meadow and Addison. Also surviving are a brother Richard E. Morgan and her closest friends, Virginia (Ginny) Lowe, Arlene Lang, Ruthanne Nerlich, Kathleen Taylor and Kate Jawdy Dodds.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, a son Christopher and two sisters Mary Louise Mook and Elizabeth Worden.

Friends will be received in the Huff Chapel, 312 W. Park St. from 2-4 & 6-8 p.m. Tuesday. Funeral services will be held in the funeral home at 11 a.m. Wednesday with the Rev. Jeff Little, pastor of the First United Methodist Church officiating.

Interment will follow in the Franklin Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers the family requests memorial donations be made to Debence Antique Music World, 1261 Liberty St., Franklin PA 16323.