Josephine “Jo” Carson

Josephine (Jo) Carson, 90, died June 4, 2013 in Lawrence, Kansas. Jo was born on January 12, 1923 in Harrisburg, Illinois, the youngest child of Martin Klondike and Kristina Lydak Klondike. Jo graduated from Harrisburg Township High School and later attended St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in Evansville, Indiana where she earned her diploma and became a registered nurse in 1946. Jo pursued her nursing career in many locations, including Wyoming, Illinois, New Mexico, Texas and Kansas. She worked at the Municipal Contagious Disease Hospital in Chicago during the worst of the polio epidemic. While living and working in New Mexico she met Roland Carson at a dance at the Laguna Vista Lodge in Eagle Nest. Jo and Roland married in February 1955. They lived in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Lakin, Kansas and, in 1959, settled in Roland’s home town of Elkhart, Kansas. Jo and Roland raised their family in Elkhart and Jo continued her nursing work in the county hospital and for many years as clinic nurse for Dr. E.J. McCreight. In 1975 she become Morton County’s first county health nurse and established the original Morton County Health Department. Jo retired in 1988 and her husband Roland died the same year. Her parents, sister Rosa Preradovic, brothers Karl and Frank Klondike and son-in-law Clifford Griffin predeceased her. Jo is survived by her loving daughters, Mary Carson and Cari (Tina) Carson, both of Lawrence, Kansas and Monica Carson, son-in-law Kelly McKinney and grandchildren Erin and James McKinney, all of New York City. She is also survived by several nephews and nieces as well as by many wonderful friends in Elkhart and elsewhere.

The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, 2013 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Elkhart. Inurnment will follow at the Elkhart cemetery. The family will receive visitors at Garnand Funeral Home in Elkhart on Friday, June 14 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, Jo’s family suggests memorial contributions to the Humane Society of the United States, the World Wildlife Fund or the Nature Conservancy of New Mexico, in care of Garnand Funeral Home, P.O. Box 854, Elkhart, Kansas 67950.