Obituary of Marjorie Johnson

JOHNSON: Marjorie Rose (Crossland). Marjorie Johnson was born in Lavant, England on May 8, 1920. She died 91 years and 96 days later in Chatham, Ontario on August 12, 2011. She had, by her own account, a lucky and wonderful life. In 1943, while riding to her job as a Civil Service telephone operator on her trusty three-speed Raleigh bicycle, she met a Canadian soldier asking for directions. On June 28, 1944 she married him --Walter Burns Johnson, son of Angus Johnson and Annie Spence of Beechwood -- at Wooten, England where Walter’s army unit was stationed. A year later, she became one of the 48,000 “War Brides” who arrived in Canada between 1942 and 1946. After a week on the RMS Scythia, she docked at Pier 21 in Halifax, where she was directly assisted on to a “Bride Train” to Chatham. There she met her Johnson in-laws: Angus and his second wife Artamitia (Hayes) and Hanley, Donald, Ruth and Lillian. They welcomed Marjorie warmly and immediately swept her up into their family routines of strawberry picking and horseradish grinding. Walter did not arrive back in Beechwood until three months later, September 1945. Shortly after Walter’s return, they moved to Ridgetown. Marjorie worked for Glenn Stephens Jewellery Store for 17 years, and then moved to Ridgetown Public Library until she retired in 1985. Despite never giving birth to children of her own, Marjorie had a large and adoring family: She is survived by cousins Roland and Joan Pawley, Littlehampton, nieces Rosemary Woolston, Chichester and Pat Gill, Yorkshire, England; her sisters in law, Ruth (Johnson) Elgie, Dawn Mills; and Lillian (Johnson) Kirby, London; Johnson nieces and nephews: Kae Elgie, Waterloo, Margaret Nagi, Phoenix Arizona, Bev Whitelaw, Blenheim, Evelyn Giangregorio, Hamilton, Earl and Bill Elgie, Dawn Mills; Ian Kirby, Oakville, Ann Kirby, London, Dean Kirby, Waterloo; Janet and Jean Wilson, Windsor, and their spouses and children; and especially her adopted family Barb and Alan Holden, Blenheim. Predeceased by brothers- and sisters-in-law Hanley and Enid Johnson, Helen and John Wilson, Donald and Margaret Johnson, and Ken Elgie. She also had many friends, of all ages, gathered over the years from her active participation with the local War Brides, the Erie Street United Church Choir, the Ridge Players, the Ridgetown Golf Course, and world-wide travels with Elderhostel. On their forty-first wedding anniversary in 1985, Walter died suddenly from a massive heart attack. It was a sad time for Marjorie but as she said, it was the best way to go, and she hoped she would be as lucky. On Friday August 12, she got her wish, dying in mid joke with friends from the Ridge Players. According to Marjorie’s wishes, cremation has taken place, and visitation will be held on Friday August 26, 2011 at Erie Street United Church, 7 Erie Street North, Ridgetown from 1:30-2:30 p.m. A celebration of her life will be will be held at the Church at 2:30 p.m. with a reception to follow. Donations to honour Marjorie’s love of animals may be made to OSPCA Chatham-Kent, 405 Park Avenue East, Chatham, ON N7M 3W4. Online condolences may be left at www.mckinlayfuneralhome.com. Arrangements entrusted to McKinlay Funeral Home, 76 Main Street East, Ridgetown, Ontario (519)674-3141.