Josephine Scott, affectionately known to loved ones as Joe, was a mother, sister, friend and confidante. She held various occupational positions. However, her greatest career was as a home worker. She married George Scott Sr. and raised four daughters and two sons. She died November 16 of a brain aneurysm. She was 72.

Scott had suffered from a brain tumor. The doctors told her that she would only live for a month. She lived six more years.

“Her house was always open to everybody,” said daughter Josephine Washington. “If she had $20 and you needed it, she would give you everything. She would give you the clothes off her back.”

Washington said her mother’s illness did not deter her from helping others.

“She just had a heart to give and to do and that’s what she passed onto our children, that we’re just here to do the will of God,” she said.

“In that six years, even though all the time I knew she didn’t feel good and had to go to doctors’ appointments and tests and everything, she just kept moving and it was always about someone else,” Washington added. “She just kept smiling. She had such a strength, and she passed that strength on to so many others.”

Scott was born to Theodore and Carrie McNeil on January 24, 1939, in Bennettsville, S.C. Having lost her mother at a very young age, Scott moved from the south to Pennsylvania, where she attended Philadelphia public schools.

Scott was described as many things to all of those who knew her: to her only biological sibling, she was a second mother; to others she was a loving mother, sister, confidante and friend. Her heart, as well as her home, was a refuge and a haven to those in need of a listening ear, a place to sleep or her delicious fried chicken. She would literally give her last as no sacrifice was too hard.

Scott’s life exemplified her faith. She had an unwavering belief that all things worked together for good to those who loved God. Even through an unfavorable medical diagnosis, her faith in God delivered her. Her faith extended beyond the doors of the church. She ministered to all in need, in her community, in nursing homes, hospitals and prisons.

Scott leaves to mourn: six children, Rosemaria (Arthur), Josephine (Michael), Jennifer, George Jr., Tyrone and Tosha; sister, Francis Nowell (Irving); godchild, Robert Jr.; grandchildren, Shawn (Della), Imani, Terri, Tyhir and Samiah; two great-grandchildren, Taliyah and Makayla; niece, Angela; and nephews, Marvin (Yolanda) and Arthur III; “honorary” children, Nathaniel, Earl, Deidre, Evie, Lisa and Kema; special friend, Ms. Odessa, who represents her many other friends; Uncle Henry Williams and our extended Williams Family; cousin, Emma Branch; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, special relatives and friends.

Scott’s affinity for “adopting” others also gave her an extended family that included the Williams Family, the Washington Family, the Hickman Family, the Walker Family and the Greater Faith Baptist Church Family.

Services were held Nov. 26 at Greater Faith Baptist Church, 4037 Baring St. Julian V. Hawkins Funeral Home handled the arrangements.