Johnnie Ruth Williams Johnson, 71, passed away January 31, 2020 from a pulmonary embolism as a complication of bone cancer. She was born April 22, 1948, to John Gordon and Ann Louise Hammontree Williams of Ringgold, Georgia. In school, she showed great academic promise, and after graduation from Ringgold High School in 1966, she attended Georgia Southern University. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education in 1970, graduating Magna Cum Laude. She worked as a teacher of elementary and middle grades in the public schools of Savannah, Trion, and Winder, Georgia, and Fernandina Beach, Florida, for a total of 24 years. She also inspired young learners as a Sunday School and VBS teacher for various Southern Baptist churches through the years and as a preschool teacher at Christ Church Nursery School on St. Simons Island, Georgia. She spent time at home as her children’s first and best teacher in their early years as well. She retired from Russell Middle School in Winder, Georgia, in 2011.
Her interests and hobbies included reading and writing, shopping, home decorating, cooking, and caring for her family and beloved pets. After her retirement, she worked with Jerry L. Johnson, her husband of 52 years, in a small antiques resale and furniture refinishing business in Braselton and Winder, Georgia. She spent her final years in complete retirement at their new home in Brunswick, Georgia.
She is survived by her husband, Jerry L. Johnson; sister Janet (Donald) Trew; brother Jim Williams; daughter Kimberly (Fred) Lane; son John (Megan) Johnson; grandchildren Will Bailey, Chris Lane, and Lillie Wren Johnson; and many cousins, nieces, nephews, and other relatives and friends.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society. The family will receive friends and family at the Edo Miller and Sons Funeral Home in Brunswick, Georgia, on Wednesday, February 5, 2020, at noon with the funeral service immediately following at one o’clock. Interment of her urn will be at Brunswick Memorial Gardens.
