Jo-Ann McGowan Grimes

Jo-Ann Cecilia McGowan Grimes passed away on November 30, 2024.

She was born in Asheville, NC to the late Dr. Joseph Francis McGowan and Frances Genevieve Oddi McGowan on November 22, 1938.

In addition to her parents, Jo-Ann was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Wesley Grimes and her sister, Margaret Louise McGowan Rudd.

Jo-Ann attended St. Genevieve of the Pines in Asheville for grammar and high school, and attended Trinity College in Washington, D.C. for college and received her Masters in Social Work from Tulane University.

She was a member of the Junior League, the Four Seasons Garden Club, the Biltmore Forest Country Club and served as the Parent Association President at St. Genevieve Gibbons Hall School. Devoted to her church, she served on Parish Council and was a Eucharistic Minister for the Basilica of St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church.
Jo-Ann was an intelligent, dignified woman with a strong sense of self. She cared deeply for those she loved as a wife, parent, grandparent, aunt and friend. She possessed a deep faith and was involved with her church for decades.

She loved to travel, play bridge and work around her house and gardens, and was active in her garden club for many years. She loved meeting new people, and was a brilliant conversationalist, having the ability to find a connection with anyone she met.

Jo-Ann McGowan Grimes – elegant to the very end.

She is survived by her two children, Carolyn Preston Davitt (her husband, Dennis Davitt) and Sheila Grimes Helms and two grandchildren, Campbell Cecilia Davitt, James Porter Davitt. Jo-Ann is also survived by her siblings and their spouses: Mary Frances Allen, Patricia Stahl and James E. Stahl, Joseph F. McGowan and Anne Marie McGowan and O. Pierce Rudd.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held starting at 10:30 AM on Thursday, December 12, at the Basilica of St. Lawrence, D.M. at 97 Haywood St in Asheville, with a burial to follow at Lewis Memorial Park.

Her family will greet friends from 12:00 PM until 2:00 PM on Wednesday, December 11 at Groce Funeral Home’s Lake Julian location at 72 Long Shoals Road in Arden.

Flowers are appreciated and may be delivered to Groce Funeral Home at Lake Julian.