In Memory
Laura Juniata (Hesiben) Joseph
Jan 21, 1917 - Dec 12, 1987
Services for Laura Hesiben Joseph, 70, of 215 Pagin St., who died at 10:50 p.m. Saturday at St. Joseph's Medical Center, will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Pilgrim Baptist Church. Burial will be at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, Osceola.
Friends may call from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at Alford's Mortuary. Mrs. Joseph was a retired elementary school teacher and licensed beautician. She was born Jan. 21, 1917, in Joppa, Ill., and lived in South Bend for 57 years, coming from Paducah, Ky.
On Jan. 21, 1937, in Goshen, she married Melvin Joseph. He died June 10, 1985.
She is survived by a daughter, Phyllis Bond of Lockport, Ill.: a son, Melvin of Washington, D.C.; three grandchildren; two sisters, Ruby Sowell of Detroit and Precious Bohannon of South Bend; and two brothers, Ulysses Hesiben and Orntrue Hesiben, both of South Bend.
Mrs. Joseph was a member of the church and served on the Usher Board, Nursing Unit and Senior Choir of the church, was past most noble governor and treasurer of Household of Ruth 6747, past president of St. Pierre Ruffin Club and Alphi Chi Pi Omega Sorority and Fraternity, secretary of Peppyetts, a member of LaChayne Club, Our Day Together Club, National Association Colored Women Inc. and Literary Council of St. Joseph County Inc., and was sick chairman of Alberta King Senior Citizens Birthday Club. She played on the Uncle Bill Harris Colored Girls Softball Team in the 1940s. From 1954 to 1969, she was a Campfire leader, group organizer in District 2 and sponsor, receiving the Campfire Award and Charlotte Joy Farmsworth Award in 1970
Article from 16 Dec 1987 The South Bend Tribune (South Bend, IN)
Sources: Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com and FindAGrave.com
02/25/2026 EJS
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