Katie Johnson

JOHNSON, Kate Hobbs Nunez 86, entered into eternal life on Thursday, October 16th, at Consulate Health Care of Safety Harbor. Katie was born at Tampa General Hospital during the 1928 hurricane, foreshadowing the fact that her beloved son would become a meteorologist one day. A fourth-generation Tampa native, she graduated from Hillsborough High School in 1946. Education was a priority throughout her life. As an undergraduate, she attended Florida State University, the University of Alabama and the University of Miami, where she earned a Bachelor of Education in Secondary Education with a major in English and a minor in music in 1952. She taught English and music at Memorial Junior High School in Tampa from 1955 to 1959. Later in life, she pursued graduate studies at the University of Tampa, the University of Tennessee, Moody Bible Institute and Florida Beacon Bible College, where she earned a Master of Arts degree in Christian Counseling in 1981 and subsequently taught there for 5 years. She received a Doctorate in Divinity from Reeves Bible Seminary in 1989. Katie made her social debut on Thanksgiving Eve, 1952 at the Gasparilla Opening Ball of Ye Mystic Krewe and was subsequently elected to the Gasparilla Royal Court. She remained active in the Krewe with the support of her aunt, Sarah Keller Hobbs, Gasparilla XVI Queen, 1924, and her uncle, Frank Hobbs, Gasparilla XXIV King, 1932. She performed community volunteer service at Tampa General Hospital through the Junior League of Tampa. Her fine arts interests led her to serve as Secretary of the Tampa Philharmonic, Treasurer of the Tampa Oratorio Society and as a Board Member of the Tampa Ballet in the late 1950’s. After college, she worked briefly for the Hillsborough County Tax Collector, Anthony “Andy” Schleman and with his wife Esther Schleman. They became lifelong friends and godparents to her son, Andy. She enjoyed tennis, golfing, sailing and her favorite sport, water skiing. Music was integral to her life as a child, influenced by her mother who was an organist at St. Andrew’s Episcopal. She continued the musical tradition into adulthood by playing piano in her home. In the 1960’s, she taught up to 8 Bible studies per week. Using flannel boards with hand painted backgrounds, she brought Bible stories to life for children under the auspices of Child Evangelism Fellowship. Her adult Bible study groups were associated with Women’s Aglow, the Christian Women’s Club, Campus Crusade for Christ and Moody Bible Institute. She wrote a children’s devotional book entitled And He Prayed in 1966. Her love of English literature compelled her to write hundreds of poems spanning 60 years. She was an avid traveler from a young age, sailing to Europe for the first time on the Andrea Doria in 1953, three years before the ill-fated ship sank. Later in life, she revisited Europe, toured the Holy Land and saw much of the U.S. until 1998, when blindness prevented her from travelling. The governor of Colorado sent her a complimentary letter praising her poem “Charismatic Colorado”. Being a mother and a teacher were her deepest identities. She was a compassionate counselor, intercessor and minister of the Word of God. She was a caring and egalitarian person who volunteered over 800 hours of time on the Christian Crisis Counseling & Suicide Prevention Hotline in the 1980’s. She is predeceased by her mother, Katherine Hobbs Nunez; father, Robert F. Nunez, Jr.; sister, Ann Nunez Cusick; brother, Robert F. Nunez III; and her former husband and father of their son, Paul B. Johnson. She is survived by her only son, Anthony “Andy” Johnson; nephew, Bill Nunez; nieces, Gail Nunez Cassidy, Marcia Nunez Taylor and Ceylon Cusick Hargrove and several great nieces and nephews. A service will be held at 10am on Tuesday, October 21st at Blount & Curry- MacDill Chapel, 605 S. MacDill Ave Tampa, FL. Burial will follow at Myrtle Hill Cemetery.