ForeverMissed
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Her Life

Obituary from Tallahassee Democrat August 17, 2015

August 3, 2015

Jo Frances Richardson, 75, a longtime resident of Tallahassee, passed away May 14, 2015, in Richmond, VA, where she was visiting her daughter and son-in-law while receiving cancer treatment.

Jo was born February 13, 1940, in Morton, MS, to Jonathan and Mary Frances Edwards. She earned a B.A. in English and History from the University of Mississippi and pursued graduate studies in social work at Tulane University. She married Peter Richardson in 1972, and together they spent nearly a decade as volunteers with the World Council of Churches/Ecumenical Institute performing community development work, including several years living in an Aboriginal community in remote northwestern Australia.

A tireless and devoted advocate for children, Jo served most of her career as a social worker supervising placements of foster and adoptive children and youth, first with the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services in the 1960s, and later with the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS), Florida Department of Children and Families, and Children’s Home Society, until her retirement in 2005. She was an active member of Saint Paul’s United Methodist Church.

She is survived by her husband, Peter Richardson, of Tallahassee; her four siblings, John R. Edwards of Pelahatchie, MS, B.T. “Tommy” Edwards of Blountstown, FL, Patsy Tisdale of Vicksburg, MS, and Kathy Jones, also of Vicksburg; and her daughter and son-in-law, Hope Richardson and Benjamin Ramage, of Richmond, VA.