Obituary of Mary Josephine Junghans

Mary Josephine Junghans, Corvallis, OR Mary Josephine “Mary Jo” Junghans died on July 14, 2019, at the age of 93. She was born on June 17, 1926, in Milesburg, PA (near Bellefonte), where her family owned a hotel business and grew up in Trenton, NJ. Mary Jo was the oldest daughter of John Francis and Josephine Ann (Kohlbecker) Fitzgibbon. She was one of twelve siblings and proud of her Irish Catholic ancestry. During WWII, Mary Jo won the title of “Miss Avenger”, by raising the most money selling war bonds, making her the GM Queen. Always an excellent student, she graduated Magna Cum Laude at Saint Francis Nursing School, Trenton, NJ. Mary Jo served with distinction as a Naval officer, as one of the private nurses for Alben W. Barkley, the Vice President of the United States at Bethesda Hospital, as a flight nurse, and as the poster model for US Navy Nursing Corps, replacing Miss Texas (Mary Jo was quite a beauty). After moving to New Jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado, and living five years in Germany as an Air Force wife, she finally settled in Springfield, VA and moved to Oregon in the last years of her life. Mary Jo Junghans was the mother of four children: Christopher, Grace Maria, Faith and Philip. Her smartness, her humor, her amazing and adventurous life stories, and her charming voice singing old and sometimes forgotten songs will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She is survived by her daughter Faith, her son Philip, a daughter in law, seven grandchildren, one sister, one brother, and numerous nieces and nephews. A Mass for Mary Jo was held at the Vatican in Rome by a friend, Father James Hamel, Ch, Col, USAF. She would have loved this. Arrangements are going to be made for her internment at Arlington National Cemetery, VA, as she wished. Donations or Mass orders in her name can be done at Saint Bernadette’s Catholic Church in Springfield, VA and Saint Mary’s in Corvallis, OR.