Georgia Joslin

(From Ulmer Funeral Home)

Georgia Ann Joslin, 84, spent the first part of her nursing career delivering the last of Peoria’s Baby Boom generation and the second part ensuring the health of Caterpillar employees, in effect, moving from one type of labor to another.

She graduated from St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in Kansas City and worked 15 years as head nurse in the labor and delivery units of Peoria’s Methodist and St. Francis hospitals. She then shifted to industrial medicine, spending 25 years at Caterpillar.

She was part of a group picture taken in front of the first Cat D10 track-type tractor to emerge from the production line. That machine later returned to the company for display in front of Building SS in East Peoria.

She loved her work. When one of her children called from college, she proudly reported more than once working a double shift on Saturday. Her husband claimed she worked an extra year not for the money but to secure her 25th anniversary service pin, perhaps one of the most cost-effective employment incentives ever offered by Big Yellow.

She was born in Bowers Mill, Missouri, on November 9, 1930, to Bert and Garnet Calhoun. She married Emmett Joslin, then in the second year of his 30-year Caterpillar career, on February 22, 1953. They spent their retirement very close to where they spent their youth, at home in Newton County, Missouri. She was preceded in death by her husband of nearly 56 years and two sisters, Loeda and Arneta.

She is immediately survived by her son, Samuel Joslin (wife, Karen Austin-Joslin) of Chillicothe, Illinois; daughter, Jane Kennedy (husband, John Kennedy) of Columbia, Missouri; and son, Bruce Joslin (wife, Ana Joslin, and daughter, Marta Ann Joslin), of Chesapeake, Virginia.

Her niece Ruth Ann calls her Aunt Georgie; her kids call her Mother; most everyone else calls her Ann. She died in Columbia, Missouri, October 5. She was a member of the Evangelical Free Church of Columbia.

Graveside services will be held 2:00 p.m. Thursday October 8, 2015 at Powers Cemetery, Granby, Missouri. Contributions may be made to the local charity of your choice in care of Ulmer Funeral Home. Online condolences may be made at www.ulmerfh.com. Arrangements are under the direction of Ulmer Funeral Home.