Josephine Douglass Meikle

Passed away peacefully at home in Oakland on May 20, 2015. Josephine McCune Douglass was born on December 9, 1922 in Reno, Nevada to the late Robert Lee and Mantee Buckley Douglass. She was raised on the Island Ranch in Fallon, Nevada and in Reno. She graduated from the Castilleja School in Palo Alto and Armstrong College in Berkeley. In 1949, she married Stanley Ross Meikle. They lived first in Oakland where their daughter, Joanne Douglass Meikle, was born. The family moved to their home on Cambrian Avenue in Piedmont in 1958 and lived there until 2010.

She worked at the Internal Revenue Service and International Harvester before becoming a full-time mother and homemaker. After several years, she began working in the family business, Crescent Electric Company, which her fatherin-law started in Oakland in 1912, and volunteering for many community organizations. Her volunteer positions included Chairwoman of the Oakland Museum Women’s Board’s White Elephant Sale, President of the Bellevue Club, and Regent of the Piedmont Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

She was a loving wife and mother, a devoted caregiver for aging family members, a dedicated and well respected volunteer, and a lifelong student of Christian Science. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband after sixty years of marriage. She is survived by her daughter who will cherish her memory.

At her request, no services will be held. For anyone wishing to make a contribution in her memory, please consider a donation to the Oakland Museum Women’s Board (OMCA Membership Department, 1000 Oak Street, Oakland, CA 94607, with a notation on the check specifying the Women’s Board Endowment Fund) or Principia College (Gift Services, 13201 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO 63131).