Ms. Joan Ellen Johnson to TAPS

Joan Ellen Johnson, 75, loving wife, sister, mother, grandmother, and friend passed away peacefully at Kennestone Hospital, Marietta, GA  following cardiac arrest on Saturday, November 25. 

She was born in Roanoke, AL on May 1,1942, the oldest daughter of Gordon Lee Williams and Corrine Spivey Williams.  She grew up in Columbus, GA with her younger sister Martha Kay. 

Both she and her husband, Graham Johnson, graduated from Columbus High School where she served on the yearbook staff.  They were married while Graham was a student at Auburn University and she helped him finish school.  Immediately after his graduation, he entered the Army as a Second Lieutenant and she became an Army wife. 

Thirty years later after moving 17 times and living in places from Germany to Hawaii and many points in between, Graham and Joan retired to Acworth, GA.  Joan was president of the Officers’ Wives’ Club of Maxwell Air Force Base, Fort Benjamin Harrison, and Redstone Arsenal.  She was a master bridge player as well as being active in the Friends and Neighbors Club in Acworth, GA, playing bridge with her many friends.  

She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Charlton Graham Johnson; her son, Michael Lee Johnson, and his wife, Michielle Sego Johnson, of Marietta, GA; daughter, Tracy Lynn Cullo, and her husband, William Hickey Cullo, of Alexandria, VA; her sister, Martha Kay Williams of Charlotte, NC, her niece, Julie Elizabeth Shore, and her husband, Brandon Michael Shore, of Charlotte, NC; and her six grandchildren: Zachary Franklin Johnson (22), Lacie Elise Johnson (18), Victoria Elizabeth Cullo (21), Corrine Ellen Cullo (14), Gabriella Grace Cullo (12), and Madeline Carson Cullo (10).  Services to be held at the chapel of Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church 4385 Lower Roswell Rd. Marietta, GA 30068 on Friday, December 1 at 11:00, visitation with the family to be preceding the service at 10:30.  In lieu of flowers the family is asking for contributions to be made in Joan’s name to the American Cancer Society or Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church.