Juanita Pace Johnson's Obituary
JOHNSON, Juanita Pace, died Wednesday, June 12, 2019, at Methodist Hospice, Memphis, and will be buried June 19, 2019, in the Johnson family cemetery, Burns TN.Mrs. Johnson was born Christmas Eve 1918 to Amanda Carter Pace and David Richard Pace of Hollywood, AL. Her father and a brother died when struck by lightning while plowing in 1923, and in 1928 Mrs. Pace moved with most of her children to South Pittsburg, TN. Young Juanita loved South Pittsburg with its good schools and Baptist Church and enjoyed life there until not long after her mother’s death in 1937, when she moved to Nashville to live with her elder sisters Martha (“Peggy”), a registered nurse, and Violet. Juanita graduated from high school in Nashville, took a clerical course, got an office job with New Deal agency, the WPA, and in 1940 married William Marvin Johnson, Jr., a railroad worker. Marriage cost her job, but the young couple soon moved to Cowan, TN, where moving heavy military materiel required Marvin’s expertise. Juanita lost a baby boy at birth, but then joined the war effort, working in the office of the local cement plant.In 1945 Juanita gave birth to a daughter, Martha Ellen, and in 1947 the railroad transferred the family back to Nashville. When Marvin was promoted to supervisor, other moves followed: to Mt. Pleasant, TN, Louisville, KY, Corbin, KY, and Bruceton, TN. The 1976 move to west Tennessee led the couple to settle in Huntingdon, where Marvin died in 1990 and Juanita lived until 2006, when she moved to Memphis to be near her daughter.Primarily a homemaker, Juanita worked outside the home for about 10 years in clerical, retail, and real estate sales jobs. Her favorite position was in the office of St. Anthony Hospital in Louisville: she loved the nuns and felt the holiness of healing work. In Mt. Pleasant she tested children’s eyesight as part of the work of the Lions Club auxiliary and helped in founding an annual fall carnival to raise funds for the public schools and in founding a local public library. She was active in Baptist churches for 75 years.Juanita is survived by members of her loving family; daughter Martha Feldmann of Memphis; granddaughter Lena Griffin; and 2 great-grandsons of Lebanon TN, and numerous nieces and nephews.In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations to the First Baptist Church of Huntingdon TN or a charity of the donor’s choice.Arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave., Memphis, TN 38119 (901) 767-8930. “A Fitting Farewell for Everyone”.
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