Benita Phinizy Johnson

She was born January 14, 1932 in Augusta, Georgia to Stewart Phinizy and Mary Louise Hankinson Phinizy of Augusta. After graduating Salutatorian at Tubman High School, at age 16 Miss Phinizy enrolled at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, where she studied musical fine arts under Irén Marik for two years. She left Sweet Briar to study journalism for one year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In 1951, she left the university to marry Thomas Marion Johnson, Jr., of Savannah. Over the next decade, she gave birth to her four beloved children at steady two-year intervals, and in 1962 the family moved to Atlanta.

An active member of the Colonial Dames, the Junior League, the Episcopal Church Women, and the Iris Garden Club, she was a dedicated and giving participant in the communities around her. Her volunteer work intersected organically with quiet and effective leadership roles. For example, she worked as a volunteer at the Atlanta Speech School for decades, and also served on the Board. Much of her life and sense of community revolved around the congregation and activities of St Anne’s Episcopal Church. At St Anne’s, she worked, again for decades, as the church Archivist, head of the Prayer Shawl Ministry, and as an ECW (Episcopal Church Women) leader. Her involvement with St Anne’s led in later life to work, at first as a volunteer, and then as an employee, at St Anne’s Terrace, a residential retirement community associated with the church. She worked there as a core member of the marketing team for 30 years and was honored by the Caring Heart Award, a state-wide recognition for individuals who have made a difference in the field of aging services.

At 87, she finally retired and moved in as a resident at the Terrace, where she served on the Board and as President of the resident’s association. In private life, she was passionately involved in music, volunteering as organist for St Thomas’s Church in Savannah during early motherhood, teaching piano to dozens of students over decades, and even in her 90s playing piano at morning prayer at the Terrace, including on the Tuesday that she was admitted to the hospital, 4 days before her death. She was a gifted life-long learner, indefatigable in maintaining and building connections within and among her communities, quietly yet energetically a force of nature for the good, an inspiration for us all.

She is survived by her sons, Thomas M. Johnson III and wife, Wayne Dobbs, of Atlanta, Stewart P. Johnson and wife, Jane Kestenbaum, of Durham, NC, and William A. Johnson and wife, Shirley Werner, of Chapel Hill, NC, and her daughter, Mary Louise Johnson of Savannah; by six grandchildren, Michael, Thomas IV, Emma, Louise, Benita Johnson, and Meredith Levsen; also by three great-grandchildren, Thomas, Corinne, and Piper.

A memorial service will be held at St. Anne's on Saturday, November 16, at 2 P.M. A reception will be held in the parish hall afterwards.

In lieu of flowers, donations are requested to St. Anne's Episcopal Church, 3098 Saint Anne's Lane, Atlanta, GA 30327 or to St Anne’s Terrace, 3100 Northside Parkway, Atlanta GA 30327.

For further pictures and memorials, go to: www.benitaphinizyjohnson.weebly.com