CAROLYN (ELYARD) JOHNSON
Carolyn (Elyard) Johnson, age 87 went home to be with the Lord Friday, January 21, 2022.
She was discharged from the hospital the day before.
Funeral services were held on Friday, January 28, 2022 at 12 noon at Langsford Funeral Home, 115 SW 3rd St., Lee’s Summit, MO 64063. Visitation was at the funeral home at 11:00 a.m. Burial followed in Lee’s Summit Historical Cemetery immediately following.
Carolyn was born May 26, 1934 in Lemons, MO to Mannie and Imogene (Walt) Elyard. She and her older sister Georgene lost their mother in 1936. She was raised in Pennville and Green City, MO. Carolyn or Kay as she is known to her family and friends graduated from Green City High School in Jan. 1953 and started working at Laughlin Hospital in Kirksville, MO where she became a Practical Nurse. She absolutely loved the job and taking care of people.
She met her future husband Fred Johnson in 1954 in Kirksville where he was stationed in the Air Force at Sublette A.F. Radar Station after returning from Okinawa. They married Feb 20, 1955. They had two children, daughter Jeri Lyn and son Bradley. They made their home in So. California from early 1956 and remained there, predominantly in Orange County where they raised their children until they moved to Lee’s Summit in the Fall of 2009. Kay was a wonderful loving mother to Jeri and Brad, a loving wife to Fred, a loving grandma to Michael, a loving sister and aunt, a great friend, a really good cook and homemaker and gardener. She loved being out in her yard in Orange, CA where she had citrus trees, roses, camellias and azaleas that needed her attention. Gardening was her favorite way to relax and spend time outdoors. Their neighborhood in Orange was where wonderful neighbors became lifelong friends. She attended Yorba Linda Friends Church from 1973 and participated when she could in their women’s ministry Bible studies before taking care of her grandson. She became part of their Prayer Chain team at that time and continued to do so until she moved to MO. She had a real heart for the Lord and loved praying for people so it was a perfect way for her to serve.
She was preceded in death by her husband Fred, son Bradley, parents, grandparents, an infant sister, brother-in-law Lloyd Johnson and sister-in-law Helen Johnson, brother-in-law John Young, and her best friend of 65 years, Janet Ching.
Survivors include her daughter Jeri Johnson of Lee’s Summit, grandson Michael Johnson of Costa Mesa, CA, sisters Georgene Young of Kirksville, MO, and Glenita Callahan of Kansas City, MO, niece Pamela and Joe Curtis of Centerville, IA and niece Nancy Baker of Kirksville, MO, nephews Douglas and Mary Johnson and Bill and Kim Johnson of Peoria, AZ, brother-in-law George and Sally Johnson of South Range, WI, daughter-in-law Suzanne Layton and many great nieces and nephews and their children. She had a quick wit and a wonderful sense of humor, and she will be greatly missed by all of us who loved her. Memorial contributions may be made to Salvation Army, Shelter KC Mission, City Union Mission in KC, Boy’s Town and Saint Joseph’s Indian School. Those charities were all close to her heart.
