Obituary of Emma Johnson

JOHNSON, Monterey Monterey Johnson, formerly of Ocala and Oxford, died peacefully at her home in Riverside, California on July 3, 2009, surrounded by the love of her family. Monterey was born on September 24, 1911 in Oakwood, Georgia, the second child and oldest daughter of Garland and Irene Blair. The Blair family added two more daughters before moving to Oxford, Florida when Monterey was 13. She graduated from Wildwood High School in 1929 and entered the nurses' training program at Orange Memorial Hospital in Orlando, Florida where she graduated at the top of her class. While enrolled in a post-graduate course at Chicago Lying-In Hospital, the maternity center for the University of Chicago Medical complex, she met her future husband, John Herbert Johnson. They were married June 29, 1935. The couple had two children, Sally and Don, and lived in Illinois for the first twenty years of their married life, before moving to Atlanta, Georgia, and later Oxford and then Ocala, Florida. The richness of their life together, a 45-year love affair, lingered long after Herb's death in 1978. Monterey continued travels to Australia where their son Don lived until his death in 2000, and joined Sally and her husband Chuck Beaty of Riverside and their six children on many adventures. She was a very special "Ma" to her eight grandchildren--Vicki VanDenburgh, Northeast Harbor, Maine; Debby VanDenburgh, Reno, Nevada; Sherry McLean, Kansas City, Kansas; Julie Smith, Big Bear, California; Stewart Beaty (d. 2001), John VanDenburgh, Riverside, California; Alex Johnson, Australia, and Anna Johnson, Australia—their husbands and wives, and her 19 great-grandchildren. Her sister Toni Presley of Milton, Florida survives her as well as dozens of nieces and nephews. Nothing was more important to Monterey Johnson than her family and close friends. Until recently she was an active member of the Presbyterian Church and P. E. O., and an ardent lover of music, books, cooking, and travel. A memorial service for Monterey Johnson and her legacy of love and grace is scheduled for Saturday, August 1 at 10:00 a.m. at the First Presbyterian Church in Ocala, Florida. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial gifts to the Riverside County Philharmonic, P. O. Box 1601, Riverside, CA 92502.