Marjorie Johnson

Born Friday January 13, 1922 to Vara Lee Johnson and James Mansey Johnson in the Meadow area of Johnston County, NC. Marjorie died peacefully in her sleep October 11, 2013 at her home near Four Oaks, NC. She was an all-county basketball player at Meadow High School before graduating in 1938. After high school, she attended and graduated from Women's College in Greensboro in 1942. A short span as an English teacher was followed by her marriage to Paul E. Johnson, Jr. of Four Oaks. His enlistment into the Army Air Corps sent him overseas to the war in the Pacific as a B-24 pilot. After returning to the states, he was joined by Marjorie in Tucson, Arizona and she began a life as an Air Force officer's wife. Her son Paul III was born there in 1946. A little over a year later she was stricken with rheumatoid arthritis and spent the rest of her life with a disability that was very painful and physically limiting. She was not one to complain about her condition and she went about raising a family and following her USAF career husband's assignments to various places in the US and in Turkey till he retired in 1970. In 1955 she gave birth to a daughter, Lisa. Early in her life, Marge learned to play bridge and was active in bridge clubs everywhere she lived and attained the rank of Silver Life Master during her retirement years. After her husband retired from the USAF in 1970, they retuned to Johnston County and built a home on family estate land where she lived with her husband till his death in 1986 and on till her death. During the retirement years she was active in local bridge competitions in Smithfield and around the state. She was the manager of the Smithfield Bridge Club for many years, was the first bridge Unit 119 charity chairman for many years, and a recipient of the Bridge District 7 Goodwill Award. She is survived by her brother Dr. Clem Johnson of Elizabethtown, NC and a sister, Edna Earl Bryan of Winston-Salem, NC. Her siblings that preceded her  to the grave were Clyde Johnson, J. Marvin Johnson, Matilda Langdon, Robert Johnson, Pauline Barrett, Lee Johnson, and Alsey Johnson. She is survived by her son Paul III and his wife Lee, her daughter Lisa, her granddaughter Tara Reichley, and great-grand-children Thadeus, Ashleigh, and Lindsay. She will be interred with her husband in Arlington National Cemetery. Any donations should be made to any National Arthritis Research Charity. Local services will be at the First Baptist Church of Four Oaks  on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at 2:00PM. Rev. John Norman will officiate.