Josephine Tanksley worked all her life

Josephine Tanksley, who worked for 23 years for a maintenance company, never taking a day off and continuing part-time after her retirement, died Dec. 13 at age 73. She lived in North Philadelphia.

She was born in Waynesboro, Ga., to Leroy Gaines and Lizzie Mae Mingledoff. She came to Philadelphia as a teenager and graduated from Bok Vocational High School.

She worked for the ABM company, cleaning offices in the city, a job that she enjoyed, according to her family. She was a devoted worker and kept at the job after her alleged retirement.

"She enjoyed her family," said her daughter Sabrina Tanksley. "She was very kind-hearted and loving. She kept a smile on her face.

"She was always willing to extend a hand to anyone who needed her, family, friends and neighbors. She was very independent. She didn't want to feel that she was a burden on her family. She worked right up to the day she died."

For fun, Josephine enjoyed going to Atlantic City and testing her luck on the casino slot machines. She was also a big Oprah fan.

She married Osami Tanksley in 1963. He died in 2006.

Besides her daughter, she is survived by two sons, Osami Tanksley Jr. and Rodney Tanksley; another daughter, Lovie Tanksley; 12 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren.

Services: 11 a.m. today at Bible Tabernacle Baptist Church, 2555 Germantown Ave. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Fernwood Cemetery. *