Josephine Goff Obituary

Josephine Helen Allen Goff, known as Jo by her family and friends, went to be with our Lord in heaven on Aug. 20, 2011, at the age of 93 in Mancos.

Mama was born Dec. 16, 1917, in Council, Idaho, to James and Cora Bennett Allen. As a young girl, she moved to Aztec, N.M., as her mom got a teaching job there at Cedar Hills. Then she moved to Mancos, where she met and married the love of her life, Walter Goff, on Dec. 26, 1933, in Gallup, N.M. They bought the GOF ranch in Weber Canyon, and there they raised six children, Jimmy, Bobby, Delores, Ruth, Roberta and Dorothy. Mama and daddy were married 58 years.

She was one of the first telephone switchboard operators in Mancos, until they switched to dial phones. She also worked at the Boys Market, The Hotel Cortez, the Pony Express Gift Shop, and Mesa Verde Gift Shop. Mama loved her garden, and she loved to can vegetables. Mama and daddy would can more than 100 jars of dill pickles every year. One year at the Montezuma County Fair, she won 28 blue ribbons, grand champion and reserve champion with her items she made. She was a wonderful seamstress and sewed our clothes, and later in life, made very beautiful handmade quilts for all her children and grandchildren. Her favorite hobby was oil painting. Her first painting was of apples and oranges, and she just finished her last in March at the age of 93, which was a beautiful landscape painting.

Jo moved to Montrose, Colo., the fall of 1999 and enjoyed being close to her two daughters, Dorothy and Delores. She was very active in the Visual Arts Guild of Montrose, and won the people's choice award with her painting of the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge train at the Montrose County Fair. She lived in Montrose until June of 2011, when she became a resident of the Mancos Valley Inn.

She was a loving mom, as her children always came first, as well as her grandchildren. Many of them would come to spend quality time with grandma and grandpa. Growing up on the GOF Ranch was always a very fun place. You always knew you were welcome at any time, whether family or friend.

Josephine is survived by her daughters, Dorothy Goff of Montrose, and Ruth Valdez and husband Steve, of Albuquerque, N.M; and by her grandchildren, Lyle, Cliff, and Mike Goff, Jamie Glover, Rose Goff Noakes, Donna Plowman, Kayla Dendy, J.W. Goode, Tina Padilla, Richard Garcia, Steven Kevin, and Sheldon and Solona Valdez. She has 25 great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Walter, children Jimmy Goff, Bobby Goff, Delores Daniels, Roberta Garcia, and by one grandson, Greg Hatch, her brother, Bob Allen, and a sister, Mary Friend.

A celebration of life ceremony was held on Sept. 24, 2011, at the Cedar Grove Cemetery in Mancos.