Jo-Ann Schwitzgebel

Jo-Ann was the oldest of seven children, born over an eighteen-year span, to the late William Thomas ("Red") McMoneagle of Philadelphia, PA, a World War II veteran of the Asian-Pacific Theater and dedicated lifelong U.S. Postal Service carrier, and the late Gertrude Donovan McMoneagle of Brookline, MA, both born in 1920. Members of the Greatest Generation, the couple met in Boston and eventually journeyed to Florida. Their union would produce seven children and twenty grandchildren.

Jo-Ann was born in the City of Miami and raised in nearby Hialeah. With a multitude of family responsibilities throughout the course of her childhood given her mother's debilitating illness, she was a natural, gifted, selfless caretaker-and a blessing- to countless others and their families throughout her life. Jo-Ann's giving nature exhibited a strong, unwavering faith undergirding her resiliency. Humble, innately shy, and kind to the core, she also devotedly loved and appreciated all creatures great and small and advocated for others to do so.

She is survived by her only child, Gregory Francis Schwitzgebel III, and by grandchildren Rachel Frances Pedersen, and husband Garrett, and Gregory Robert Schwitzgebel IV of Raleigh. And by her surviving siblings in Florida: brother William ("Billy") T. McMoneagle, Jr., and twin sisters Harriet Elms of Brooksville and Eleanor McMoneagle of Southwest Ranches; Denise Russo of DeLand; and Gertrude ("Trudy") McMoneagle of High Springs. Preceded in death by both her parents; her husband of four decades, Gregory Francis Schwitzgebel, Jr., a native of Charlotte, and his parents, Gregory F. Schwitzgebel, a World War I veteran, and Irene Murphy Schwitzgebel, both laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery; and by her youngest brother, Richard McMoneagle, a U.S. Army infantry paratrooper laid to rest at Florida (VA) National Cemetery.

Arrangements by Bryan-Lee; to be laid to rest next to her husband in the Garden of the Four Prophets upon services at Raleigh Memorial Park in January. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the Washington National Cathedral and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.