Edna Kathryn "Kay" Johnson, 86, of Hillsboro, died at 4:26 a.m. on Sunday, May 31, 2015, at Montgomery Nursing & Rehab Center, Taylor Springs.
Memorial services will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9, at Bass Patton Dean Funeral Home, Hillsboro. The Rev. Jeff Hemken, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Hillsboro, will officiate. Private family burial will take place at a later date in Oak Grove Cemetery, Hillsboro.
Visitation will be held on Tuesday, June 9, from 5 until 7 p.m. at Bass Patton Dean Funeral Home, Hillsboro.
Mrs. Johnson was born in Hillsboro to the late Torney Preston and Bertha E. (Windels) Ivy on Sept. 27, 1928. Her family left Hillsboro when she was young, her father being an auditor for Peabody Coal Co. They lived in Oklahoma; Sullivan, IN; and Chicago. Her last two years of high school were in Chicago where she was graduated from Roger Sullivan High School in 1946.
She worked for Pepsodent while living in Chicago, traveled by ship to Denmark where her sister lived at the time, and later attended nurses training at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
Upon her return to the family home in Hillsboro, she met the love of her life, Ernest Everett "Tiny" Johnson. Their first date was going to the Firemen’s Ball in February 1951, and they became married on Sept. 28, 1952. He preceded her in death in 1974.
The couple returned home from their honeymoon to a newly built home on the lot which had been the Johnson family garden area. The couple had two children, Robert Ernest, who passed on May 20, 1996, and Janine Kay (Johnson) Sherer.
She was known as Kay, not Edna; Edna was her aunt. She worked at Montgomery County National Bank and later became employed with the State of Illinois where she retired.
She was a past member of Hillsboro Women’s Club and the American Legion Auxiliary. She enjoyed exercising with the Grand Advantage Group at Fusion at Hillsboro Hospital. She was a member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and a lifetime member of Weight Watchers.
Mrs. Johnson traveled extensively with her sister, Lyn, until her death in 1995. Her attention was then devoted to her three great-granddaughters whom she loved to have visit at her house and spend the night just to get up to make pancakes for breakfast. Her most recent interests were knitting scarves, shopping (window or from her closet), watching all seasons of Dancing with the Stars and Turner Classic Movies.
Mrs. Johnson is survived by her daughter, Janine Sherer of Hillsboro; two grandsons, Chris (wife Melanie) Sherer of Hillsboro and Matt Sherer of Coffeen; and three great-granddaughters, Hannah, Chloe and Mia Sherer, all of Hillsboro.
In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Hillsboro Volunteer Fire Department, Memorial Home Services Hospice Program or St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Youth Group.
Online condolences may be left to the family at www.basspattondeanfh.com.
