Josephine McCaleb Akeman

Published 12:00 am Saturday, September 22, 2012

Nov. 10, 1923 – Sept. 20, 2012

ONEONTA, Ala. — Memorial services for Josephine McCaleb Akeman, 88, who died Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, at Fair Haven Methodist Retirement Center in Birmingham, Ala., will be at 2 p.m. today at her home church, Lester Memorial United Methodist Church.

A family burial will be at Oak Hill Cemetery under the direction of Long Family Funeral Homes in Oneonta, Ala.

Visitation will be from 1 p.m. until service time today at the church.

Ms. Akeman, a lifelong Methodist, was born Nov. 10, 1923, in Adams County, the daughter of Sidney Briscoe and Anne Farrar McCaleb. She attended schools in Kingston and Woodville and college at Copiah-Lincoln in Wesson.

Ho moved to Oneonta with her husband for Natchez when Blue Bell was built in 1948. While working for multiple businesses over the years, it was a life of volunteer work that she is remembered for and for which she was appreciated.

As a constant scholar, she had broad interest in all kinds of books and publications. Her innate intellectual interests led to the opening of the first public library in Oneonta and her work with the Literacy Council. Mrs. Akeman remained on a personal educational journey taking a number of courses and classes of all types over her lifetime.

In addition to being a Red Cross volunteer for more than 75 years, she volunteered with the Girl Scouts of America and at the Blount County Museum. She was a charter member of the Ladies Civitan Club, Blount County Home Demonstration Club, Rose Garden Club, Blount County Democrats and Blount County Historical Society. She also served on the Blount County Merit Board.

Over the course of 65 years in Oneonta and Blount County, she touched the lives of a number of residents. She will be missed most by the members of the Blount County Quilters’ Guild and of the Hope Sunday School Class.

Her twin daughters are thankful for her long and fulfilling life with family, friends and pursuits with special appreciation to her dear neighbors Linda, Mike, Anna and Jenny Reeves and the staff of the Fair Haven.

Ms. Akeman was preceded in death by her husband, H.L. (Pete); her son, Henry Frank; her parents; two sisters, Mary Louise Tarver and Anna Belle Nazary; and one brother, Sidney McCaleb.

Survivors include two daughters, JoAnne Vaughn of Centerville, Va., and Lynne Thomas of Birmingham; one sister, Ella Young of Natchez; three grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, Anne and Lynne request that her passion for education continue by honoring their mother with memorial gifts to the Oneonta Public Library or the Blount County Museum.