Janet Claire Johnson age 93 of Kearney died November 25, 2017, at the St. John’s Care Home in Kearney.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, November 29, 2017, at 2:00 PM at the Burr Oak Church south of Broken Bow with Pastor Tim Peterson officiating. Burial will be in the Box Elder Cemetery.
A visitation will be held on Tuesday, November 28, 2017, 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM at Govier Brothers Mortuary in Broken Bow with the family greeting friends 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM at Govier Brothers Mortuary.
Memorials are suggested to the Homeward Trail Bible Camp at Mason City or the E-Free Church in Kearney.
Janet Claire (Davis) Johnson was born April 29, 1924, to Clarence & Mary Edith (Hogg) Davis in their farm home in the Janesville Community. Janet Claire passed on November 25, 2017, at St. John’s in Kearney, NE.
Janet Claire attended elementary school at Happy Hollow School, south of Ansley, and graduated in 1942 from Mason City High School with 26 classmates. She received a teaching certificate with capabilities to teach up to grade 3. She then attended Kearney Normal Teachers College for one year and received her Teachers Certificate to teach up to grade 8.
Janet Claire’s teaching career began at Beechville, Dry Valley, and Samuelson Schools in Nebraska. During the War (1939-45), she worked at Douglas Aircraft in Long Beach, California building airplanes for the war effort. After returning home from California, she continued teaching at Union Hill, and Lower Cat Creek Schools. She said, “No child was to be more than three miles from their school.”
Throughout the summers of 1945- 48 she worked for Shada’s Market in Ansley, and for Dorthy Petrick, Bernice Uhlig, and Mildred Johnson doing odd tasks. One year, she invited the Johnson family (through her connection to Mildred) to attend her Christmas Program at Union Hill School. Kenneth was the only Johnson that attended the program and afterward gave Janet Claire a ride home. This began their courtship. She later married Kenneth Lee Wilson Johnson on May 28, 1949, at the home of her parents. To their union, they had 3 sons: Duane, Ramon, and Paul Bryan. In 1960, Kenneth and Janet Claire built a new home west of Cumro in the Flatbottom Community and were next door neighbors of Kenneth’s brother Orian and wife Rita. There they resided and farmed for 34 years alongside Kenneth’s six brothers.
In 1983, after the loss of her husband Kenneth, Janet Claire completed her College Education in Teaching at Kearney State College. In 1986 she then moved to Kearney where she resided independently for 31 years until she suffered a stroke in 2017. She substituted in the Kearney Public Schools for 5 years. She was active in her community as a member of the Willing Workers Community Club, Missionary Groups and the Cats and Rats DAV Veterans Group of Broken Bow. Janet Claire attended church at Burr Oak Church south of Broken Bow for 35 years and was a member of the Evangelical Free Church in Kearney for 31 years, where she served at AWANA and helped in the church library. She also worked for Homeward Trail Bible camp near Mason City, NE in the summers for over 10 years with her sister Charlotte Runyan as a cook. They shared lots of laughter, along with the work.
Janet Claire accepted Christ as her personal Savior as a young lady. Her faith kept her strong and steadfast while loving and raising her family. She had many talents and hobbies, including gardening, collecting butterflies, crocheting, and cooking – famous for her apple pie using apples from the trees Rita, Orian, she and Kenneth had planted between their family homes. She also cross-stitched, skillfully crafting Christmas ornaments for each of her sons’ families’ Christmas trees every year. Janet Claire was a dependable letter writer, to her sister Charlotte each week, to family in Scotland, other family members, and to many missionaries. She enjoyed traveling abroad to Germany and Scotland to visit family and cherished listening to music by The Seven Johnson Brothers’ Orchestra, her three sons singing, and her talented grandchildren’s musical performances and vocal talents.
Janet Claire is preceded in death by her parents Clarence & Mary Edith Davis, stepmother Martha (Roberts) Davis, her husband Kenneth Johnson, brother-in-law Dillard and sister Charlotte Runyan, sister-in-law Mildred and husband Archie Cooley, and six Johnson brothers-in-law: Harry and wife Hilda, Milford, Merritt, Orian and wife Rita, Paul H., and Robert Johnson.
She is survived by her siblings and their spouses: Cameron & H Carol Davis of Junction City, KS, and George & Rose Davis of Kelowna, B.C., Wilna & Arlin Rowse of Chambers, NE; sister-in-law Joan Johnson of Mason City, NE; her sons and their wives, Duane & Sharon Johnson of Omaha, NE, Ramon & Beverly Johnson and Paul B. & Connie Johnson both of Mason City, NE; 9 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews, family and friends. Good neighbor and friends Mike and Judy Workman.
