Mary Lou Johnson

She was born in Bellingham, Washington on January 19, 1930, to Roy and Florence Leonard. As a young girl she attended Assumption School. In the early 1940’s her family relocated to Seattle, Washington where her father worked as a security guard for Boeing during the war.

Mary Lou attended Holy Rosary in West Seattle where she graduated in 1948. While attending high school, she also worked at Sears whereby she made sure to purchase a new pair of shoes and cardigan sweater each month with her earnings. From that point forward, the cardigan became her signature style piece. Her high school friends commented in her yearbooks that they believed she would own Sears one day.

After graduation, Mary Lou worked as a typist at Boeing and also met and married her ex-husband, Melvin Johnson (Mel), on March 17, 1952. She briefly lived with her mother-in-law and then moved to San Antonio, TX to be with Mel during the time he served in the Air Force. Following his discharge from the Air Force, they relocated to West Seattle to begin raising their family. After building their dream home in Mercer Island, Washington in 1968, they moved along with their three children, Diane, Donald, and newly born baby Denise, where they lived for the next 20 years.

Mary Lou primarily raised their three children as a stay-at-home mother during this time. She briefly worked as a secretary for Bonney Watson Funeral Home on Capitol Hill for a few years. Following a home kitchen fire in the early 70’s, she was then instrumental in later years with retaining the location of the Mercer Island Fire Station on the South End of Mercer Island. She collaborated with other volunteers by collecting petitions and providing statistics proving that had the station been closed during the kitchen fire, their dream home would be a total loss. The city responded favorably and as a result, the South End location of the Mercer Island Fire Station is still open to this day.

Mary Lou loved sports, in particular tennis and baseball. For many years she would attend the Virginia Slims professional tennis tournaments which provided an opportunity to watch women’s tennis pioneers including Chris Everet, Martina Navratilova, and Billie Jean King. These women sparked an interest in tennis for Mary Lou and she soon joined the beginning tennis ladies’ flights at the Mercer Island Country Club. In later years, she rarely missed an opportunity to see the Seattle Mariners baseball team and was a season ticket holder for many years including the initial years of Safeco Field (now currently T-Mobile Park) and was fortunate to attend the All-Star baseball game in 2001.

Mary Lou was an avid collector of wine, books about wine, but mostly she was known for collecting Beanie Babies. It would be a rare occurrence if she did not procure the latest Beanie Baby within days of being issued. Most family and friends ended up receiving a Beanie Baby as a gift on any occasion. She loved reading and you could frequently find her in her room reading one of her romance novels. She loved hosting family parties including holiday functions and her famous spaghetti feeds, which of course led to leftover spaghetti and garlic bread for days.

In subsequent years, she moved to Chancery Place in Seattle where she was able to live in the same building as her mother, Florence Leonard. She then moved back to Bellingham, Washington and spent a few years in a retirement home where she loved to plan the holiday bazaars. Mary Lou lived her final years in a full care facility in Marysville, Washington.

In addition to her parents, Mary Lou was preceded in death by her ex-husband Mel; her son, Donald; sister Idalynn and brother Joseph. She is survived by her brother John and sister Ginny. She is also survived by her daughters Diane Douglass of Everett, WA, and Denise Johnson of Bellevue WA; five grandchildren – Clint, Joey, Shelby, Sierra, and Andrew in addition to her 8 great-grandchildren.

We invite you to join us on Monday, August 5, for a celebration of life at Acacia Memorial Park, 14951 Bothell Way NE, Seattle at 11:00 AM.