1926 – 2016

CONCORD, N.H. — Josephine Moskus Dragoon died at Hospice House in Concord, N.H., on Tuesday, May 3, at a queenly age of 90 years.

She was born in Mexico to Peter and Alena Maurauskus Moskus on April 5, 1926. She was the youngest of four children and attended Mexico schools, graduating in 1943.

She began working in the machine shop at Oxford Paper Company, in Rumford, while still in high school due to the number of men heading off to war. After graduation, she continued her employment at the mill, working for many years in the finishing room. She later worked at the Madison Motel and Restaurant.

Josie married Benedict Dragoon during a blizzard on March 15, 1958, and moved into the Dragoon homestead on Dragoons Road in East Rumford, where she helped raise the two children still remaining at home. Together with Ben, she helped usher out the era of the Pure Ice Co., which Ben had owned for many years. They then devoted their energies to their apple orchard, gardens, horses and other pets.

A lover of nature, Josie spent many pleasant hours in her flower and vegetable gardens. She loved watching the birds and squirrels at the feeders, as well as the moose, deer, turkeys and other wildlife that frequented the orchard. She enjoyed her trips around the United States and Canada with her niece, Villa, and especially her journeys to Lithuania, where her parents were born.

Josie is survived by her sister, Elizabeth Belanger of Mexico; stepson, Robert Dragoon and wife, Mary Anne, of Melbourne Beach, Fla., and Hanover; stepdaughter, Virginia Todd and husband, Marshall, of Rumford; five step-grandchildren; eight step-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews and their families, including niece, Carole Thurston Hockmeyer and nephew, Randy Belanger. She was especially devoted to her niece, Villa Thurston Ramsay, and great-niece, Cynthia Ramsay Krill, and their families of Deering, N.H., with whom she resided for the past several years.

She was predeceased by her husband, Benedict, in 1989; stepdaughter, Barbara Dragoon Gossett; sister, Ellen Thurston Wheeler; brother, Peter Moskus Jr.; and niece, Brenda Thurston Trench.

Copy the Story Link