Josie Johnson

Josie E. (Woodman) Johnson, 103, of Holdrege and formerly of rural Elm Creek, died Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at Christian Homes in Holdrege. Funeral services will be 2:00 PM, Monday, Sept. 20th at Williamsburg Methodist Church south of Elm Creek. The Revs. Katherine Bullard will officiate. Interment will be in the church cemetery. Visitation will be 5-7, Sunday at O’Brien Straatmann Chapel in Elm Creek. Memorials will be established by the family. Online condolences may be submitted to osafh.com. O’Brien Straatmann Funeral Home and Cremations of Kearney and Elm Creek is in charge of arrangements. She was born on July 14, 1907 north of Kenesaw to Emerson and Ella (Lippincott) Woodman. Her family later moved 2 miles north of there to their farm. In the middle of May of 1916 the family went by covered wagon pulled by 2 horses through the northwestern part of the state to Scottsbluff. They visited relatives a few days and then went to Cheyenne, WY and on to Ft. Collins, CO. The went over a small mountain range and camped in a valley in a tent about 2 miles from Coalmont, CO just north of Rabbit Ear Pass for about 6 weeks. This trip was due to her mother’s health as she was diagnosed with T.B. She attended Denman School through the 10th grade. In 1924, the family traveled to California in a REO Speed Wagon. The sides rolled up in the daytime and down at night so they all stayed in it. They went through Yellowstone Park from east to west entrance and then on to Boise, Idaho to spend a week with relatives. They traveled on to Hood River, OR and picked apples for a while and then on to Pasadena, CA. The children attended school there, although they never received any credit once they returned to Nebraska the following year. They sold the REO Speed Wagon and took a train back home. She graduated from Denman at the 10th grade and the 12th grade at Kenesaw High School in 1926. She attended Kearney Normal School in the summer months and taught rural school for four years. On January 31, 1931, she married Vern J. Johnson at Atwood, KS. To this union were born 3 children, Betty Jean Benson, Nancy Ann Ashcraft and Gary Lee Johnson. They moved to the farm in Phelps County in May of 1931. She lived there until her health declined and moved to the Christian Homes in Holdrege in 2003. She was a 4-H Club leader for Williamsburg Willing Workers for 25 years, President of U.M.W. for several years, Sunday school teacher, Sunday school superintendent, church treasurer and member of the church board and cemetery board. Her husband died in 1970 She is survived by her son, Gary Lee of Redmond, OR; daughters, Nancy Ashcraft of Holdrege, and Betty Jean Benson of Kearney; 12 grandchildren; 23 great-grandchildren; 15 great-great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband; 2 sons-in-law, Clarence Ashcraft and Rodney Romaine Benson; daughter-in-law, Sandi Johnson; grandson, Ronald Lynn Benson; brothers, Jerry, Clifford and Floyd; and half-brother, Charlie.

Josie Johnson

July 14, 1907 - September 15, 2010