Martha Johnson

Martha Dumas Johnson of Milledgeville died November 29, 2013. The daughter of T.B. and Annabel Dumas, she was born at home in Maypop Cottage in Milledgeville on December 23, 1923. She attended Peabody High School, and was graduated from Georgia State College for Women in 1944. In 1946, she married architect John Elwyn Johnson of West Chester Pennsylvania, and over the next 60 years, the couple made their home in Macon, and after 1961, in Milledgeville. Best remembered as a devoted educator, Mrs. Johnson taught hundreds of kindergarten children for over 50 years in Macon and Milledgeville. She started the preschool programs at First United Methodist Church and First Baptist Church and was the director and a teacher. A member of First United Methodist Church for over 70 years, Mrs. Johnson served as president of the WSCS, chairperson of the Staff Parish Relations Committee, member of the Board of Trustees, and as a member of the Relocation Committee for the new church facility in 2003. She was the Baldwin County Mother of the Year in 1975, regent of the Nancy Hart Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a candidate for County Commissioner in 1980, and was active in the Baldwin County Democratic Party. A survivor of polio, Mrs. Johnson remained committed to the Mothers’ March Against Polio and the March of Dimes throughout her life and served as chairperson of the 1962 Mothers’ March for Bibb County. In 1966, when the historic 1825 Brown-Stetson-Sanford House was threatened with destruction, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson raised money to relocate the house and worked to ensure its renovation. She was an avid bridge player and a member of local bridge and duplicate bridge clubs. Mrs. Johnson was preceded in death by her husband. She is survived by her daughters Dr. Amy Johnson Wright (Joe) of Milledgeville and Beth Johnson Salet (Mike) of Atlanta; five grandchildren Dr. Beth Wright Cooper of Macon, Taylor Wright (Melanie) of Smyrna, Ashley Wright Dolce (James) of Augusta, Windsor Salet Adams (Richard) of Atlanta, and Lindsay Salet Mumm (Donovan) of Prairie Village, Kansas; and nine great-grandchildren Madison and Sophia Wright, Trip and Harrison Cooper, Turner Dolce, Fuller, Reid, and Merriwether Adams, and Anabel Mumm. Family Visitation will be Wednesday, December 4, from 5-7 PM at Williams Funeral Home. Her funeral, a service of celebration, will be at 11AM Thursday, December 5, at First United Methodist Church on Log Cabin Road. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the First united Methodist Church Building Fund, Georgia’s Old Capital Museum for the preservation of the Brown-Stetson-Sanford House, or to the Mothers’ March of the March of Dimes.

Martha Johnson

December 23, 1923 - November 29, 2013