Josephine D. Mechem

Josephine D. Mechem (Jo) a resident of Albuquerque for over 70 years, died peacefully in her home on Friday, September 11, 2015. She was preceded in death by two wonderful men. Stanley D. (Scotty) Galloway and Jo were married in 1944 when they moved to Albuquerque. They raised four fine children until Scotty's death in 1972. In 1976 Jo and Edwin L. (Ed) Mechem married and Jo embraced a much expanded, combined family as did Ed until his death in 2002. Jo was born in Denver, CO to Wallace C. and Helen S. Donavan. Many, many times she expressed her gratitude and love for them for the gift they gave her of music and cello lessons during the deep depression when money was so hard to come by. When Jo and Scotty moved to New Mexico, she auditioned for and was selected to play cello in the Albuquerque Civic Symphony which subsequently became the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra. She played with them for almost 30 years and was on their Board of Directors as Treasurer for many years. Jo's passions were her family and her volunteer work for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. As her daughters will attest, she was a fabulous cook and excellent seamstress. She was also the best baseball player of everyone and quite an ice skater when her young family joined other families for picnics in the mountains around Albuquerque. She loved playing poker, bridge and in later years, Mexican train. In addition to Scotty and Ed, she was preceded in death by son John Galloway and granddaughter Jennifer Van Haverbeke. She is survived by her daughters, Ann Leigh, Elizabeth Galloway and Christin Dobbeck (Bill) as well as Ed's children Martha Vigil (Eloy), John Mechem (Cyd), Walter Mechem (Janet), 14 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. Jo and her daughters wish to express their heartfelt gratitude to all of our family and friends for their love of this most wonderful, wonderful woman. We also thank the staff of La Vida Llena for the fondness, kindness and care they gave her. Private family services will take place. A Memorial Reception is scheduled for Sunday, September 20, 2015, 1:00 p.m., at La Vida Llena, Carter Hall, 10501 Lagrima De Oro NE. For those who wish, memorial contributions may be made to Smile Train at www.smiletrain.org, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation at www.cff.org, or Wounded Warrior Project at www.woundedwarriorproject.org.