Josephine M. “Jo” Highness, 83, formerly of Dickinson died Saturday, February 27, 2016 at the Eventide Senior Care Center, Jamestown. Jo’s Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m., Wednesday, March 2, 2016 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Dickinson, with Fr. Keith Streifel as the celebrant. Interment will follow at St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Visitation will be on Tuesday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at Ladbury Funeral Service, with a rosary & vigil at 7 p.m., with Deacon Al Schwindt presiding.
Josephine M. Reiter was born December 1, 1932 at home in Zenith, the daughter of Ben and Rose (Schwindt) Reiter. Her first bath was given to her by seven year old brother, Bill. When she was four years old the family moved to South Heart and when in the fifth grade moved to Dickinson, where she attended St. Joseph’s Grade School. Following Eighth Grade graduation in 1948, she began working various jobs. She worked at the St. Charles Hotel until it burned down, and moved to Farmington, Mich. from 1950 to 1954 to live with her sister Mary and husband Jerry, to babysit their children, James and Roger. Jo then moved to West Fargo to live with her brother Louie and wife Olga.
Jo was united in marriage to Earl D. Highness on February 19, 1960. She went to work at the Holiday Inn, and following 16 years with them, she retired in 1996. In 1998, she made a move to Dickinson and resided at the Villard Terrace.
She enjoyed horses and horse shows. She was a part of the West Fargo High School Rodeo Club, and took entries for 25 years for the high school rodeos. She also belonged to the Fargo/Moorhead Posse Horse Club, and enjoyed showing horses as part of the Appaloosa Club. Jo had always said, “I’ll always be a kid.”
Jo is survived by sisters-in-law, Janice Reiter, Dickinson, and Olga Reiter, West Fargo; 21 nieces and nephews who Jo was very close to because she was a special babysitter to most of them; and she says, “I also leave behind loads of great-great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; and eight siblings and spouses, Anton (Rose) Reiter, Leonard Reiter, Barbara (Joe) Kubas, Mary (Jerry) Linhart, William (Joyce) Reiter, Louie Reiter, George Reiter, and Erasmus Reiter.
