Josephine Jean Smith

Oxnard, CA

A bright light shines in Heaven. Josephine Smith has passed away. The loving wife, mother, Nana, and friend touched many lives. Jo was born a twin to immigrant Irish parents in Winchester, Massachusetts, in 1929. She was preceded in death by her parents James and Bridget and her seven siblings. To her family, she was Sis.

Jo graduated from Winchester High School, and in 1958 she moved to Oxnard, California. She met the love of her life, Lawrence Smith, Jr., at the Legion of Mary at St. Anthony's Church in Oxnard. The two married in 1963 at the San Buenaventura Mission. She subsequently had three children in diapers within their first four years of marriage. She was now Mom.

Jo and Larry loved the theater and enjoyed many fun afternoons at The Music Center in Los Angeles with friends. She spent family vacations visiting our national parks, and she loved talking with and listening to people and soaking up the sun at the beach. She was active in many organizations and charitable causes during her lifetime, most recently as an officer in the Young Ladies’ Institute at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Camarillo.

Jo is survived by Larry, her husband of 53 years, sons Tim (Laura) and Patrick (Maya), daughter Barbara Beatty (David), and five grandchildren: DJ, Nicole, Conor, Dylan, and Julia. She had many nieces, nephews, and lifelong friends in California and Massachusetts.

A Rosary in Jo’s honor will be prayed at 7 PM on Wednesday, March 29, at Del Angel Conrad-Carroll Funeral Home in Oxnard, and a Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 AM on Thursday, March 30, at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Oxnard.