Marjorie J. Johnson
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Marjorie's obituary
Marjorie J. Johnson died peacefully on April 7, 2025, at her home in Spokane, Washington, in the care of family and hospice, after a life devoted to her family, nursing and public service. She was 97 years old.
Marjorie Jewel Kelly was born March 3, 1928, in Watertown, Wisconsin, and raised in Knob Noster, Missouri, where the Great Depression shaped her childhood. Her parents – Dr. Ray Kelly, a veterinarian, and Nell Gorrell Kelly, a nurse – helped less fortunate neighbors and strangers. Marjorie followed their example throughout her life, with acts of kindness and advocacy for those in need.
Through the years, Marjorie promoted civil rights and peace, worked for the elimination of landmines and campaigned for liberal political candidates. She volunteered for many years at the annual MusicFest Northwest competition for young artists. She gave her time and talents to the League of Women Voters and local libraries. She was a docent for an Anne Frank exhibit, teaching new generations about the young diarist, born a year after Marjorie, who died in the Holocaust.
She attended church at several locations over the years, with membership at Union United Methodist Church in Quincy, Illinois, and Westminster United Church of Christ in Spokane.
She loved all animals, especially puppy dogs. She loved nature, especially the smooth stones of mountain streambeds. She loved opera, especially Luciano Pavarotti.
She enjoyed music, theater, storytelling, watercolor painting, writing poetry and studying the Lewis and Clark expedition and the humor of Mark Twain. She had an eclectic sense of style and once wallpapered a room with National Geographic maps, including a map of the moon.
She had a good sense of humor and could joke about just about anything. She was a Cubs fan and lived long enough to enjoy her team’s 2016 World Series win.
Her parents served in World War I, which doubtlessly influenced their understanding of hardship and duty. Her mother had been a U.S. Army nurse assigned to the British Expeditionary Forces in France. Her father was a second lieutenant with the Army Remount Service at Camp Lee, Virginia.
Two older brothers, Ray and James, served in World War II and returned home to find their little sister grown up.
After Marjorie graduated high school in 1946, she taught in a rural one-room schoolhouse. The children arrived on foot and on horseback. In winter, Marjorie would light the wood stove for heat. One morning, Marjorie opened a drawer in her desk and found a mouse nursing her babies. She quietly closed the drawer and let the mice be.
She attended Central Missouri State University and decided to become a nurse. While in nurses training, Marjorie met Eugene Johnson, the love of her life. During many long conversations, they found they shared the same favorite word (“umbrella”) and soon established a secret code (“13”) meaning “I love you.”
Marjorie became president of her nursing school class at General Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and graduated in 1955. Eugene and Marjorie wed May 21, 1955, in Sedalia, Missouri.
During her nursing career, Marjorie cared for patients at hospitals in Kansas City, Chicago and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. She saw the effects of addiction and mental illness while nursing in the psychiatric unit and experienced the joys and hardships of new parents in labor and delivery.
While living in Homewood, Illinois, Marjorie and Eugene had three daughters, Carla, Rosemary and Sarah. The couple later moved, to Tolono, Illinois, and then to Quincy, Illinois, where they spent two decades and Marjorie became the first female rural mail carrier for Quincy’s post office.
After retirement, Eugene and Marjorie relocated first to Spokane, and then to Grass Valley, California, to be closer to their adored grandchildren, Kelly, Robin, Miles and Nathan.
Marjorie was preceded in death in 2019 by her husband, Eugene. She is survived by her three daughters and two sons-in-law, Carla Johnson and Steve Rodby of Shoreline, Washington; Rosemary Johnson of Spokane; Sarah and Tony Campbell of Harpswell, Maine; her grandchildren, Kelly Guilfoil and her husband, Joe Sprinkle; Robin Guilfoil and his wife, Karleen Ilagan; Miles Campbell; and Nathan Campbell; and her great grandchildren, Cordelia Sprinkle and Eudora Ilagan Guilfoil.
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