Josie, a woman of extraordinary quality

Obituary
JOSIE Jones, who died aged 35 in a Gloucestershire hospital last week, was an ordinary woman of extraordinary quality. Through a life which brought far more than its fair share of pain and suffering she displayed a rare courage and a great sense of humour. Al! those who knew her will miss her greatly.
Her name will always be linked to the Shroud of Turin. In 1951, at the age of five, she contracted osteomylitis which was so serious that it threatened to kill her.
After lour years of treatment the doctors had given up hope of saving her life and in desperation her parents wrote to Group Captain Leonard Cheshire, having read something he had written about the Shroud.
In reply he sent a picture of the Shroud. which they placed on their mantelpiece at home. Josie was in hospital at the time but literally from that moment her recovery began. Later the same year she went with Leonard Cheshire to see the Shroud itself.
There are those who talk of a miracle having taken place: she preferred to see it as a mystery, pointing out that she had never fully recovered. She needed regular treatment throughout her life and had to have a leg amputated in 1967.) She believed strongly that things happened for a purpose. The Shroud, she said, had given her the courage to keep fighting every time an illness came along.
In September 1978 she fulfilled a lifetime's ambition when she returned to Turin with Group Captain Cheshire and her sister Pauline to see the Shroud again.
In a tribute to her this week Group Captain Cheshire recalled her courage. her sensitivity and her faith. "There was something very special about her," he said. "Throughout her life she suffered a very great deal of pain. yet she was never heard to complain: she always knew when the attacks were coming on and if she was with someone at the time she would find a polite way of telling them to go. simply to spare them any feelings of awkwardness.
"In her own way, which was simple and ordinary, she was an intensely spiritual person. I believe that her life has much to teach us."
The close-knit family which she leaves includes her parents, her sister, her husband. Roy, and her son Richard. A Requiem Mass was held for her last Friday.
Josie Jones