Josephine “Jo” Ann Widrick, age 66 of Franklin, TN, formerly of Binghamton, NY, laid aside her earthly tent (died) on August 20, 2023, at 7:24 pm. She was born in Cortland, NY, to the late Daniel and Phyllis Maxfield. Jo was an incredibly gifted businesswoman who worked her way up in management at Thom McCann and Endicott Johnson, and even won a GrandAm from Mary Kay Cosmetics. Shortly after their son John was born, she and her husband made the joint decision that she would stay home to raise their children, even if it meant putting their financial goals on hold for several years.
Having had a difficult childhood, Jo and her husband focused on their ardent commitment to follow Christ and break the cycle of past challenges, helping others do the same. Jo loved spending time with her siblings, traveling, designing rooms in her house, reading her Bible, and praying. In her diverse roles as a career woman, baker, Lifestyle Educator, youth worker, camp counselor, kinesiologist, coach, and teacher, her primary aim was to lead people t o a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. She was a licensed minister in the Free Methodist Church and she and Randy served in churches in Cortland, Colorado Springs, Phoenix, and Binghamton.
In April of 2022, Jo was diagnosed with a cancerous colorectal tumor. She and her husband devoted all their resources to finding a cure. Guided by faith in God’s leadership, they sold their NY home and furniture and moved to Tennessee. Being led by God’s direction, they pursued various medical treatments, ranging from nutritional and dietary approaches to proton therapy, acupuncture, lymphatic therapy, chiropractic care, and massage. Doctors gave her only a few months to live, but her strong bond with Christ, daily Bible study, and a plethora of faithful praying family and friends, nationwide sustained her for almost 18 months.
Due to the tumor’s location, Jo spent most of the 18-month period lying on her side in the back seat of a car, unable to drive, yet never complaining. She was intensely devoted to her children, John and Bethany, and uniquely known to her grandchildren as “Towie” – a name her young grandson Ben gave when she held up a towel to dry him from a hotel swimming pool. Thinking she was telling him her name, a towel became “TOWIE” and was lovingly embraced and passed on to all three grandkids.
She is survived by her husband of 43 years, Randy J Widrick; son, John (Rachel) Widrick; daughter, Bethany Cruz; brothers, Daniel, Jr. (Sue) Maxfield and Christopher (Bea) Maxfield; sisters, Brenda (Kevin) Irving, Annette (Larry) Gathman, and Marsha (Dave) Hicks; and grandchildren, Benjamin, Brooklyn, and Judah Widrick.
The celebration service will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, September 9, 2023, at Grace Church, 1097 Murfreesboro Rd, Franklin, TN 37064. Visitation will occur one hour before the service. Larry Day will officiate, and burial will follow at Williamson Memorial Gardens. Memorials can be made to The Bridge House at www.thebridgehousetn.org or to Bethany Cruz album release at Venmo: @Bethany-Cruz or Cashapp: $BethanyCruz
A Special Thank you to the many people who helped her complete her journey: Grace Church Technical team for the live worship feed, Pastor Larry Day and Lynette Habegger , the tremendous ER and nursing staffs of St, Thomas Rutherford, Williamson Medical Center, Centennial Hospital, Proton Therapy Clinic, Vanderbilt Cancer Center, Tennessee Oncology, The Dearing Clinic, the loving team at the Juice Bar Carothers, Amedisys Home Health Care, CARIS and ACCENT Hospice, Walgreen’s Prescription Team, Mind and Body medical center, Ralph Johnson, Dr. Howard and Ashley at TrueLife.com, her faithful PC Brenda Rackhorn,. Kim who tirelessly continued PC till the very. Helen Smallbone and Rebecca St.James for allowing the use of the TrueRife machine, and brothers and sisters in Christ who tirelessly prayed for Jo and Randy, visiting weekly to pray, sing and worship, encouraging her in the fight. She always became the favorite patient in the hospital, with a smile on her face, encouraging the nurses, apologizing for them having to work on her, and never complaining. Randy stayed with her most of the 40-plus nights in the hospital, being relieved by Bethany as she could. A very special thank you to Tedd Tjornham, Hunter, and Honor Tjornham for helping the family in every way they were needed, To the prayer teams all over the US who Bethany and Randy constantly updated. Thank you does not begin to express our gratitude for all you have done. By her life and by her death, all the glory goes to her Lord Jesus Christ. It was a long, hard, and painful battle with many ups and downs, coming close to death several times and miraculously recovering to fight on, to the amazement of the medical teams. She died a peaceful death with her husband at her side, singing her favorite worship songs and thanking her for a wonderful 43 years of marriage. :In the words of King David, “She will not come to me, but in Christ I will go to her.” Thank you, Jo, for allowing us to see Christ in you, the hope of glory.
