Josephine Schyma Deneen, 76, Pierz

May 3, 1943 - March 6, 2020

Josephine Schyma Deneen, 76, died Friday, March 6, at the Harmony House in Pierz.

Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday, March 14, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Morrill. The Rev. Matthew Langager will officiate. Friends may call from 9:30 a.m. until the time of services Saturday at the church. Burial with full military honors will take place in the parish cemetery. Service with Dignity provided by Foley Funeral Home.

Josephine Frances Deneen was born May 3, 1943, in St. Cloud to Vincent R. and Frances (Roda) Schyma, and was raised in the Morrill area. She was a 1961 graduate of Foley High School and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, serving from 1961 to 1963 at the Cherry Point Air Station near Havelock, North Carolina. She married Charles S. Deneen from Hagerstown, Md., on September 7, 1963, in Cherry Point, North Carolina. The couple moved to Minnesota in 1965, living in Gilman, Minneapolis, Holdingford, and later the Ramey/Morrill area. The couple divorced in 1974. Josephine was employed by Franklin Manufacturing, now known as Electrolux Home Products, for 38 years. She also worked for a short time in the counselor’s office at Pierz Healy High School in the 1970s. Jo was a hobby farmer, photographer, and published poet. She also was a member of the St. Cloud Chapter of Women in the Military and a lifelong member of the Onamia American Legion.

Survivors include her daughter and son, Gena (Robert) Hiemenz, Rice; and Charles Vance Deneen, Pierz; grandson, Zachary Hiemenz, Rice; and sister, Judy (Chuck) Girtz, Lake Tapps, Washington.

She was preceded in death by an infant daughter, Wanda Ann, in 1966; infant sisters, Lorraine and Marceanna; and brother, Dennis.