Jo Sylvia Salmon

Jo Sylvia (Smith) Salmon died on August 20, 2025 in Mount Vernon, Ohio from pneumonia following several challenging years after a diagnosis of Alzheimer's in 2021. She was born on February 3, 1948 in Parkersburg, West Virginia. She grew up in Richmond and always considered Virginia home.

Jo Sylvia was a curious person with a love of learning. She was homeschooled and worked for a time as a nanny and dental hygienist before graduating from John Tyler Community College with an associate degree in nursing in 1975. She worked at Grace Hospital in Richmond for several years, mainly on medical-surgical floors with some time on critical care units. Her years of volunteering in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti from 1978 to 1980 were those she found most meaningful professionally. She loved work as a school nurse at Ecole St. Vincent and delighted in the approximately 200 children with medical needs in her care. Helping the children as they learned to see post surgeries for congenital cataracts and to walk after surgeries to correct bow legs from rickets were some of her responsibilities. She also worked with Foundation Care International in the north of Haiti, helping revive children with severe malnutrition.

She met the love of her life, her husband Tom, when home for the summer during her work in Haiti and then joined him in Colorado Springs, where she worked at the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. She returned to school multiple times, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Health Arts in 1994 and completing a refresher course in nursing at George Mason University in 1995. She took many continuing education classes and maintained her nursing license.

Devotion to family was central for Jo Sylvia. When her children were born, she paused her career to become a stay at home mom who was hands on and very involved. Her children followed in her path, with her daughter Anna becoming a family physician and her daughter Cara Danette a mental health nurse. She continued to volunteer and substitute teach at their schools and also with various other local organizations such as the Life Support Center in Colorado and the American Red Cross. She also served as a Stephen's Minister at Grace United Methodist Church in Manassas, Virginia.

To the end she treasured her loved ones and recognized all of her family members by name, recording the birth information of her youngest grandson in her own hand several weeks before her passing. She is survived by her faithful husband of almost 45 years Richard Thomas "Tom" Salmon, daughters JoAnna Chandra "Anna" Kauffman (husband Ross Michael Bucher Kauffman) and Cara Danette Risser (husband Daniel Benjamin "Dan" Risser), seven grandchildren, Grace Annabel Risser, Benjamin Joseph Risser, Nora Ruth Kauffman, Mathian Daniel Risser, Micah Ryan Kauffman, Netta Jean Kauffman, and Luke David Risser, siblings Lawrence Elwin "Larry" Smith, Jr., and Maude Alison "Alison" Lynch, and her longtime friend Pamela "Pam" McCoy, who introduced her and Tom.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Lawrence Elwin "Brownie" Smith and Alice Banks (Sprouse) Smith and her sister Billie Dean Horn.

Jo Sylvia loved Jesus. Her favorite Bible passage that she requested be read at her service was Luke 12:22-34. We trust that she is indeed at peace, clothed in splendor in His kingdom.

A celebration of life will be held at First Church of the Nazarene in Mount Vernon, Ohio at 3:30pm on Sunday, August 24, 2025. A graveside internment service will take place at Greenwood Memorial Gardens in Richmond, Virginia at 11:00 am on August 30, 2025.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Ecole St. Vincent in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti at stvincentshaiti.org or via mail at St. Vincent's Center Haiti, P.O. Box 1433, New London, NH 03257 or to Grace United Methodist Church at umcgrace.org or via mail at 1950 Wellington Road, Manassas, Virginia 20110.