Katherine A. "Kathy" Johnson
Katherine A. "Kathy" Johnson, nee Schmidt, 90, of Belleville, Illinois, born Monday, August 2, 1920, in Lincoln, Nebraska, died Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at Memorial Hospital in Belleville.
Mrs. Johnson was the Co-Owner for Cal Johnson Answering Service. She was a member of Crossroad Christian Church in Caseyville, IL, volunteer for American Heart Association and American Cancer Society and a community volunteer.
She was preceded in death by her:
- Husband: Calvin P. Johnson
- Parents: Carl and Tena nee Hartog, Schmidt
- 5 Brothers and 2 Sisters
She is survived by her:
- Children
- Carl L. (Suzanne) Johnson of Elmhurst, IL
- Janice (Major Richard) Head of Windsor, CA
- C. Bernerd "Barney" (Sharon) Johnson of Belleville, IL
- Brothers
- Rolla Schmidt, Oregon, MO
- Harold (Clyda) Schmidt, Lincoln, NE
- Grandchildren
- Katherine "Kathy" (Shane) Goss
- Kristen Johnson
- Andrew Barney (Katie) Johnson
- Becky Johnson
- Rachel Johnson
- Great Grandchildren
- Grant R. Goss
- Ellison J. Goss
Special thanks to the Visiting Nurses Association, the Pastoral Care Department at the Apartment Community - Lady of the Snows Shrine and the staff at Dammert Geriatric center.
Memorials: Memorials may be made to the Crossroads Christian Church in Caseyville, IL.
Funeral: Memorial service will be held at Our Lady of the Snows Shrine at 1:00pm Thursday September 9, 2010. By her request her body was donated to Washington University School of Medicine.
Family Memories of Kathy Johnson:
Kathy Johnson shared, with her husband Cal, a strong sense of calling to community service and a love of children not limited to her own family, but a love that enfolded children of the neighborhood in which she lived.
Under her watchful eye summer days found the family swimming pool filled with wiggly splashing children, and children bringing boards to build a tree club house in the woods that surrounded the Johnson home.
The county school her children attended was a concern and Kathy felt it should be upgraded into the city system. She worked diligently to get it done. She was active in her church, serving as the president of the Christian Women's Fellowship and took time to call on the elderly, and those in need and enjoyed baby-sitting for the pastor's children when needed.
Kathy cared deeply for the plights of others, chaired the area American Cancer Society campaign, served four years on its Board of Directors, and was a nine-year volunteer. She was Vice-president and a prime mover for the successful building fund of the Mamie O. Stookey School and founder of Belleville Welcome Wagon in 1961 that greeted newcomers to the city and into hospitality groups.
She found time to take in and take care of an ailing relative who was to be hospitalized for two weeks of bed-rest. She was a homemaker extraordinaire and could wallpaper, sew, cook and to the delight of family and friends bake wonderful breads, caramel rolls and create the best BBQ sauce to be found anywhere.
In the early years when her husband was struggling with service related health problems and trying to establish a telephone answering service, she successfully tried her hand at sales. Exercise equipment, lingerie, and the latest entries into the market place, frozen orange juice and frozen coffee, were all on her list for shoppers.
Johnson family Christmases were given a special brightness as year after year she gathered all of us together into her beautifully decorated home, where each year the children's homemade ginger-bread house greeted us from the front window. There amid flying wrapping paper, off-key Christmas carols and a candle-lit table laden with trays of fruit, endless cookies and punch we celebrated being a family, then went off to church together.
Memories of those we love are etched on the heart, these are memories of Kathy Johnson that will be forever etched on ours.