Josephine Yvonne Johnson Makil

MAKIL, JOSEPHINE YVONNE JOHNSON went home to be with the Lord on Friday, April 25, 2003. Born May 7, 1932, to Orville and Alberta Johnson of La Junta, Colorado, Josephine had a wonderful childhood-enjoyed her parents and five brothers, attending La Junta public schools, playing the piano, and her church family-the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. After completing study at Otero Community College, Josephine moved to Denver in 1954 and taught inner city children in the first regular and bilingual Head Start Programs in that city. An early interest in church missions led her to continued studies at Moody Bible College in Chicago, Illinois. While at Moody, she enjoyed working at Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship and then met and married the love of her life, Gaspar Taqueban Makil, a fellow Moody student from the Philippine Islands. The couple joined Wycliffe Bible Translators and were assigned as Bible translators in 1959, beginning missionary service to the Roglai people in South Viet Nam in 1962. Josephine loved being a mother and the family had by now added four children. With the escalation of the war, husband Gaspar and daughter Janie were killed as a result of a guerilla incursion in 1963. Josephine and the three remaining children moved to Nasuli, Bukidnon, Philippines, to finish out her service. While there, she set up a pre-school for missionary children and did terms of service with translations projects and medical outreach to remote Philippine tribes. Returning on furlough with her three children to the United States in 1972, Josephine returned to college and earned a B.A. in Elementary Education from Colorado Womens College (now the University of Denver). Concurrently, she worked in the Denver I.S.D. as an ESL teacher to the many Southeast Asian children then emigrating to the states in the 1970s. She also enjoyed her brothers and their families in the Denver metro area and the Belleview Bible Chapel community. Re-assigned to Texas in 1976, Ms. Makil worked as the Director of Early Childhood Program at Wycliffes Dallas training school, serving also as an International Administrative Associate consulting with the childrens pre-school education program. An important joy was her membership at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship, with its loving pastors and church body. In 1980, Ms. Makil was asked by the mission to take on the task of ethnic minority recruitment-with special emphasis on Afro-American communities. In 1989, she accepted an assignment as a literacy specialist with the Gullah Sea Island Creole translation team for three years of service. Until her retirement in June 2002, after completing 42 years of missions service, Josephine worked in the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics (G.I.A.L.) as an assistant in the social linguistics department, a cross-cultural trainer, and international student coordinator. Ms. Makil is preceded in death by husband, Gaspar T. Makil, and daughter Janie A. Makil; brothers: Marion Johnson, Orville Johnson, and Kenneth Johnson; sister-in-law, Emma Taqueban. Ms. Makil is survived by her son, Thomas M. Makil and wife, Elfreda of Arlington, Texas; daughter Carol G. Makil; daughter Jessie M. Makil-both of Duncanville, Texas; beloved grandchildren: Samuel, Mariah, Monet and Michael Makil; dear brothers Paul M. Johnson and wife, Nancy of Parker Colorado; Harold D. Johnson, and wife, Brenda of Englewood, Colorado; brothers-in-law, Adolfo Makil and wife, Hermenia of Ilocus Sur, Salcedo, P.I.; Ben Makil and wife, Luz of Manila, P.I.; David Taqueban of Ilocus Sur; sister-in-law, Talna Bongolan of Houston, Texas; and a host of precious nephews and nieces in Colorado, Georgia, the Philippines, Texas, and Washington. Family will receive friends on Wednesday, April 30, 2003, from 8:00-9:00p at Singing Hills Funeral Home. Funeral service will be held 1:00p on Thursday, May 1, 2003 at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. Interment will be at the Peacock-Larsen Funeral Home in La Junta, Colorado. In their memory, a Gaspar and Josephine Makil Scholarship will be established for foreign missions. Singing Hills Funeral Home Floral Shop 6221 Houston School Rd. Dallas 214-371-4311