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Note: Ronald Eugene Johnson "Some thoughts on my Mom" Mom was born into a family of nine children.. She was pretty and "well built" as people said in her generation. Her first child, was a son, David Ray Crook, on his gravestone is David Ray Johnson. He too became a Johnson as we all did in many ways. David Ray Crook was "stillborn". He is barried near Momma Nippers' grave in Nashville, TN. Donnie and I were born next, Donnie being 23 mintues older that I. But the trade off of I being born second was that I was on top of Donnie in the womb and I ate better. Outweighting Donnie at birth by a few pounds, and adding to those pounds over the next 48 years. Sherry came shortly after us. Donnie, Sherry and I had "cowboy-cowgirl" outfits alike, and when we would wear those outfits people would stop mom and ask if we were triplets? After mom and my father (Billy C. Johnson) had been married for a while along came Randy.
Mom had a quick and alert mind. She was as they say "quick on her feet". She loved people, and could talk and get to know anyone. She worked as a sales cherk at "Harveys" in Nashville, TN. Other men and women seemed to respect her, and it was best for you to be her friend and not an enemy. When she would get mad, she would curl her tongue downward in her mouth and watch out when that happened!
She was a very strong willed, (some would say hard headed), person, a Nipper trait! Raising and supporting three children by herself until dad came along all those years was really a job. She was noted for standing up for people who had problems standing or speaking up for themselves, those with disabilities, or the working poor. She was a religious person, attended Baptish Churches all her life and taught many a vacation Bible School. I think she drew on that faith during the hard times in her life and those last months of battle with cancer.
She loved color. She would buy something, take it home paint on it and put it up on the walls. Each season saw different decorations and colors. If there was a blank space on the wall, there was still room to put something in that space. If Dad would chance a nap he might wake up decorated! She was good at matching colors, a trait that did me well while I was in the clothing business. Mom was a very creative person. She had a kiln; did ceramices and made flower arrangements as well as doing other crafts.
One time when I was feeling down she told me, "Ronnie, you and Donnie were the best thing that ever happen to me!". It made me feel better, it made me feel good about myself.
Mom's brothers and sisters were born over some twenty years with mom being the 5th of nine children. So it was shocking that she would be the first of her brothers and sisters to die. A person realizes thier own mortality is limited when your parents start to die. I am sure whatever her vision of heaven was that that is where she will be forever.
My Dad, Billy C. Johnson, was there with her everyday over the months of cancer treatments. He lost down two pants sizes, and didn't want to leave her side. Right after mom died, he would visit moms grave several times daily. Friends of mom and dad would say, "Whenever we saw one of them, we saw both of them, they were always together".
She had this laugh, a kind of a cackle, that would come out then she got tickled. Sometimes she would have trouble finishing telling something as she would get herself tickled along the way. If I didn't know her ancestors were from Scotland and Ireland, I would have though she was Italion the way she talked with her hands.
She didn't like cats to rub up against her and she didn't like to be cold. She loved jewely, and make-up, if God had given her twelve fingers she would have rings on each one.
It was her strong willed that she drew on for strength to keep going through her "hard" life, a trait I draw from and a trait I hope is passed on for many generations to come.
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