Obituary: Joss, Hannah
Age 97
JOSS, Hannah
(Lidgerwood)
May 30, 1914 -
April 17, 2012
Hannah Lidgerwood Joss was born on May 30, 1914, the daughter of Roy and Jennie Lidgerwood in the town of Putnam, New York, located a few miles south of the historic village of Ticonderoga, New York.
Born and raised on a dairy farm, she attended a one-room grade school in Putnam and graduated from Ticonderoga High School in 1929.
She then attended Mount Holyoke College, in South Hampton Massachusetts, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1934.
She was one of only two classmates to attend the 75th class reunion in 1999.
Following graduation, she got a job as a statistical clerk in a department at Cornell University, where she met and married her husband, an economics graduate student named Alexander Joss.
They had been married 58 years when he predeceased her in 1993.
The couple lived in several states before coming to Spokane in 1946.
She was more than a 50-year member of Westminster Congregational United Church of Christ, where she was elected to several offices, including as the first woman moderator of the church when it was celebrating its 100th anniversary.
She was a long time member of the Spokane branch of the American Association of University Women of which she was a past president, a member of the League of Women Voters of the Spokane area, and of Women of Rotary.
She was a member of the faculty of St. George’s School from 1961 to 1969, where she was an admired teacher.
For many years, the school has presented the Hannah Joss Award annually, allowing a faculty member to pursue a special summer career development opportunity.
She is survived by her three sons and their wives; Peter and Diane (Spokane), Robert and Betty (Atherton, California) and Richard and Cheryl Haak (Bellingham), by eight grandchildren, and by 19 great-grandchildren.
The entire family enjoyed several large reunions, where Hannah was always the guest of honor.
Memorial Service will be at Rockwood South Hill on Friday, April 27 at 3pm.
In memory of Hannah’s life, contributions to the Rockwood Community Benefit Fund or to Westminster Congregational U.C.C.
would be meaningful.