Josephine Alderson McKittrick Trowbridge

Wilson — Services for Josephine Alderson McKittrick Trowbridge, 84, Russell, will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the Wilson United Methodist Church with the Rev. Kris Bair officiating. Burial will be in Wilson City Cemetery.
Mrs. Trowbridge died Sunday, Aug. 23, 2009, at Hays Regional Medical Center.
She was born Dec. 22, 1924, in Wilson, the daughter of Joseph Leland and Martha Desdia Alderson McKittrick. She was a descendent of two Wilson pioneer families, the Aldersons and the McKittricks.
She graduated valedictorian of Wilson High School’s Class of 1942. After graduation, she attended Fort Hays State College and then taught for a year at Excelsior School, which was north of Wilson in an area that now is Wilson Lake. She also taught for several years at Wilson’s Longfellow Grade School.
In 1963, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Fort Hays State College. She earned a master’s degree in English, with honors, in 1973 from Kansas University.
In 1964, she began teaching English at Great Bend Senior High School. During the 1968-69 school year, she was a teaching assistant in the English department at KU as she pursued her master’s degree. She retired from teaching in 1989.
She was a life member of the KU Alumni Association and Wilson United Methodist Church.
She married Donald Louis Trowbridge on May 3, 1946, in Great Bend. He died in November 2002.
Survivors include a son, David M. Trowbridge, Wilson; two daughters, Rebecca L. Blocher, Denver, and D. Caroline Trowbridge and husband Alan Zimmerman, Lawrence; a brother, Richard L. McKittrick, Manhattan; a sister, Neva Egan, Juneau, Alaska; and two granddaughters, Erin E. Blocher and Sarah A. Zimmerman, both of Lawrence.
Family and friends will gather after services in the fellowship hall of the church.
The family suggests memorials to Wilson United Methodist Church, sent in care of Foster Mortuary, P.O. Box 533, Wilson, KS 67490.