Ruby Inez (Griner) Johnson

Ruby Inez Johnson was born January 20, 1919, in Berrien county, Georgia and died on Saturday, January 16, 2021 at her son’s home in West Berrien.  She was the fourth of six children, and the daughter of the late Neal Edward and Mattie Drawdy Griner.  She is preceded in death by her husband, William Joseph Johnson and her oldest son Jerry William Johnson.

A graveside funeral service will be held on Wednesday, January 20, 2021 at 11:00 A.M. in Pine Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Berrien County with Rev. Gary James officiating.  The family will receive friends on Tuesday evening, January 19, 2021 from 6:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. in the chapel of Albritton Funeral Directors.

She grew up and attended school in the New River (now West Berrien) district of Berrien county.  She was a member of the school’s basketball team playing the position of guard.  After leaving school she went to Jacksonville, Florida and completed training to become a cosmetologist.  She worked there as a cosmetologist until she returned to Berrien county to marry and start a family.  For almost thirty years she assisted her husband to operate a productive family farm.  After his death, she continued to manage their farm land for another forty years… not leaving it to others until she was in her nineties.

During this time, she was a loving and supportive mother to her six children, encouraging each of them to live a full, happy and rich life.

In her early sixties, she started another career that lasted for over thirty years.  She worked at the Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village in Tifton.  She was fondly remembered as the petite, lively lady who loved to dress in “attire of the era” and dance to the fiddle music.  She enjoyed sewing and made a closet full of beautifully detailed dresses to wear to work.

She was a member of Pine Grove Baptist Church.  For many years she worked as a poll worker during elections in Berrien county.  She was descended from several Revolutionary War Patriots and was an active member of the Levy Sapp Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was their oldest living member and in her honor a tree was planted at the Cook County Historical Society in Adel in June, 2019.

Survivors include her three daughters and sons-in-law, Jo Beth Johnson Peacock and Douglas of Maitland, Florida, Lora Sue Johnson Lance and Willard of Washington, Georgia, Jan Johnson Tyson and Danny of Tift County and two sons and daughters- in -law, Larry Edward and Connie Johnson and James Stanley and Micheale  Johnson, and daughter-in-law Nancy Johnson, fifteen grandchildren, Sarah, David, and Rachel Johnson, Randolph and Neal Peacock, Laura Lance Foxworth, James Lance and Elizabeth Lance Conway, Mark Johnson, Michael Mickey Johnson, Marty Johnson and Ashley Johnson, Carl Tyson and Chris Tyson and Margaret Johnson Carr, twenty great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.

Albritton Funeral Directors is in charge of the arrangements.