Josie McNamara Lydon (1865-1948)

Poet, Lyricist

Born September 7, 1865, Canada

Died March 12, 1948, Los Angeles, California

Josephine McNamara, nicknamed Josie, was born on September 7, 1865, in Canada, and arrived in the United States in 1868. Her husband was Patrick R. Lydon of West Virginian. The Lydons lived in Denver and Englewood, Colorado, in Silver City, Idaho, and in Glendale, California.

Josie was a poet and lyricist. She wrote the words for "God Guide Our President" (1915). The music was provided by ragtime composer Theodore H. Northrup (1866-1919). She was published in Evenings with Colorado Poets: An Anthology of Colorado Verse, edited by Francis Shanor Kinder and Frank C. Spencer (Denver: World Press, 1926) and in Weird Tales. Her lone poem for the magazine was "White Lilies" from December 1927. Josie McNamara Lydon died on March 12, 1948, in Los Angeles, California, and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.

Josie McNamara Lydon's Poem in Weird Tales

"White Lilies" (Dec. 1927)

Further Reading

None known.

Text copyright 2014, 2023 Terence E. Hanley