Josephine Kunzelman

Josephine Ann (JoAnn) Kunzelman, 78, passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by family on December 23, 2019. She was born October 2, 1941 in Canton, Ohio, the daughter of the late Prosby and Rose Benik DeGiralomo. She and her husband Edward celebrated 41 years of marriage on Monday, December 16.

JoAnn was the oldest of four girls. She excelled at school and graduated from Bishop Waterson High School, Class of 1959, with high honors. Even though she was offered several scholarships to attend college, she instead had to begin working.

She worked at Battelle Research Institute with high security clearance from 1959 to 1964. She had four boys, including twins. In 1974, she went back to work beginning what would be a 25 -year career at Petland where she provided administrative support and managed the office. As the company grew, she became Petland's corporate secretary and served as the legal coordinator for the development of franchise agreements, state and national trademarks and copyrights, and other legal documents necessary for running a franchise corporation. In 1984 JoAnn began developing international documents for franchise partners around the world.

One of her biggest passions was engaging the stores to help raise funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Her efforts in company-wide charitable giving for children in need led to a formalized program with St. Jude and with Make-A-Wish in 1998. To date, Petland stores nationwide have donated more than $830,000 to St. Jude and have fulfilled nearly 450 wishes for children with life threatening diseases.

In 1995, JoAnn opened Ivy's Home and Garden featuring high-quality one-of-a-kind artisan products around the world. Some said "it won't work in Chillicothe" or "it won't work in the downtown." But she persisted. She loved the downtown and felt a duty to make her store a destination. She began carriage rides during special times of the year. She held tea and wine events and drew more than half of her customers from outside of Ross County. She began a tradition of plantings and flowers on the corner and front of her stores and neighboring stores and other downtown stores soon followed suit. Her charitable nature thrived at Ivy's as well. For years she donated dozens of Vera Bradley backpacks for kids in need at the high school. She donated thanksgiving dinners for needy families. She provided odd jobs for a homeless man in exchange for groceries. She donated to and supported local schools and charities and always had a special gift for those customers battling cancer. Her decisions about her businesses were unselfish and were always based on the overall good of the downtown.

Her perseverance in the corporate and charitable giving communities have not gone unnoticed. She was honored at the 50 th anniversary Petland Awards dinner with words of appreciation from Marlo Thomas (daughter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital founder Danny Thomas) and was most recently recognized by Ohio University (Chillicothe) as a woman of vision in Downtown Chillicothe. She has been a role model for many young women, including her nieces and stepdaughters, in business and in her community.

JoAnn loved travel and cherished the worldwide adventures she and her husband shared with their good friends, Robert & Barbara Brissette, from Canada. She was an avid reader and was proud of the fact that Ed couldn't beat her at Jeopardy. JoAnn's greatest passion has always been her family. She was a grandmother to 14, and recently became a great-grandmother.

In addition to her parents, JoAnn was predeceased by her sister, Rebecca, and her grandson, Zachariah. In addition to her husband, Ed, she is survived by her sisters Saundra DeGiralomo and Pamela Southard (Kent); sons David (Kim) Musser, Douglas Musser, Darron Musser, and Drew Musser (Stephanie Moore); stepson Ed Kunzelman (Tara); stepdaughters Elizabeth Kunzelman (Roger Fay) and Molly Kunzelman (David Zinn); nieces Amanda, Emily, Jessie and Nicolle; nephews Jeff, Tyler and Bryan; grandchildren Meranda, Alex, Rob, Abbey, Giada, Paige, Lauren, Annie, Anthony, Samuel, Allison, Nolan and Joel; and great-granddaughter Luna.

The family would like to express their gratitude to her devoted caregivers; Chris Maynard, Marsha McCloskey, Debra McKnight and Molly Kunzelman.

The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 11:00 am Monday at St. Peter Church. Friends may call 2-4 pm Sunday at the Haller Funeral Home & Crematory.  Those who wish to remember JoAnn in a special way are encouraged to make a donation in her name to the Adena New Hospice House Fund, in care of Friends of Hospice, 9 South Paint Street, Chillicothe, OH 45601.
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