Barbara Johnson

Barbara Wycoff Johnson, 91, beloved sister, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother went home to our Lord on March 21, 2019. She was born June 15, 1927 in Aurora, IL but spent her early years in Spartanburg, SC. She attended Mary Washington College, the University of Virginia and the University of Tennessee, majoring in Journalism. She left South Carolina and moved to Orlando where she met and married her husband, Donald A. Johnson in 1947.
She had two sons, Terry and Michael in the 50's and, in addition to her motherhood duties, became involved with the First Baptist Church in Orlando. She was at the forefront of faith-based women beginning to share the message of Christ with other women. She began a weekly Bible Class in the 1960's which grew to over 350 women in the Orlando area, together with a weekly radio program. She later founded the organization, Total Life Ministries. In an article by the Orlando Sentinel in 1979, she described her class as … "open to all mainline denominations…and it's the cords of love that bind us together". She was known as an engaging and convincing speaker and she recorded for the Tim LaHaye and Henry Brandt Cassette Tape Ministries, with thousands of tapes distributed worldwide, (with shipping help from her husband). She participated in a national Christian speaking tour for many years and was Chairwoman for the Women's Committee for the 1983 Billy Graham Crusade. She wrote several books including "Count it All Joy" and "Pathway to Prayer".
She was always physically active and, with her husband Don, she became one of the first women in Orlando to take up water skiing. In later years, she and Don enjoyed a second home in Waynesville, NC where they played golf and bridge with friends each summer. She was also one of only an estimated 50,000 women in the US to ever score a hole-in-one. She enjoyed entertaining and an invitation to her dinner parties were always welcomed. She is survived by her siblings, Ed Wycoff, Nancy Brown and Suzie Bailey, her sons, Terry Johnson and Mike Johnson, three grandchildren Heather Crawford, Matt Johnson and Jeremy Johnson and three great-grandchildren, Trip Crawford, Emerson Crawford and Everett Johnson.
A celebration of Barbara's life will be held at 1:30 PM on Friday, March 29, 2019 at the Highland Funeral Home at 3329 E. Semoran Blvd., Apopka FL 32703. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Westminster Retirement Communities Foundation, 80 W. Lucerne Circle, Orlando, FL 32801, or online at www.westminstercommunitiesfl.org/make-a-gift.

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