Kearney, Josephine Marie (“Jo”), 94, passed from this life on May 26, 2019. She was born in Dallas, Texas, on November 29, 1924, to Rosalie and Brazil Clesi. She was a first generation American with both parents being born in Sicily. She graduated from Highland Park High School in Dallas and then attended SMU. Shortly after World War ll, Jo met Mike Kearney and they married about 6 months later. After raising her children, she returned to college to complete her education and earn her teaching degree, graduating from North Texas State University. Jo taught math at Marsh Middle School in DISD for over 20 years. She loved traveling, going to Cuba in the mid-1950’s, multiple trips to Disneyland with her children, New York City, Hawaii and three trips to Italy to visit her parents’ families. Jo and her husband were members of a dance club; she also loved gardening and was a member of the local garden club. Aggie football games (at Mike’s insistence) were a family tradition for decades. Jo was also a founding member of St. Rita’s Catholic Church. She gave her children a loving upbringing and took an interest in her children’s friends, whom she loved and got to know well. Jo was a loving, unselfish, generous and caring person, always very interested in others, and making everyone feel important.
She is preceded in death by her parents, husband and brother, Salvador Clesi, and survived by her son and daughter-in law, Mike and Barbara Kearney, her daughter and son-in-law, Cindy and Ron Hodgkinson, grand children, Kevin and wife Alyssa Bell Kearney and Kristin and husband Matthew Massimino and great-grandson, Austin Kearney, son of Kevin and Alyssa.
A visitation will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 pm on Sunday June 2, 2019, at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home at 7405 W. Northwest Highway, Dallas, Texas 75225. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Monday June 3, at 11:00 AM at Christ the King Catholic Church at 8017 Preston Rd. Dallas, Texas 75225. Interment will follow in Hillcrest Memorial Park.
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