Mildred Louise Johns

Mildred Louise Johns died February 11, 2016 at Kaiser Antioch following a brief illness. She was 86 years old. A long time resident of Martinez, CA, Mildred was born in Iron River, WI on July 12, 1929 to Harvey Lee Fox and Gladys Marie Fox. She is survived by husband of 61 years Donald Johns, daughters Karen Sexton (John), Kathy Kemper, Kimberly Yingling (Raymond), grandchildren Jory Kemper (Holly), Nicholas Yingling, Melissa Kemper, great grandchild Ryder Howry, brothers Lee and Tom Fox, and sisters Edna Bunnell and Barbara Bowers. She is preceded in death by sister Dorothy Chamberlain and brother Donald Fox. Mildred faced many trials in her early life. At the age of ten she was sent by train to California to live with her step-sister, Viola Nessler. She didnt see her family again until she was fifteen. At eighteen she would marry, but after only three years of marriage she lost her first husband to cancer. Loved ones, though, will remember her tenacity, her spirit. She worked at a post office, a cannery, and as a doctors assistant, supporting herself. And in 1954, she met (and married) Donald Johns, with whom she would spend the rest of her life. Initially, while Donald was stationed in the Navy, they lived in Norfolk, VA until resettling on the west coast. They would raise a family, and Mildred devoted herself to the PTA, where for one year she served as president. In her free time, she could be found tending her garden or enjoying a wide array of arts and crafts, including needlepoint, decoupage, and painting river rocks. She was an active bowler for many years, and friends and family alike will recall her social temperament. With her fine, flowing penmanship, she wrote countless letters, many from the road, en route to her home state of Wisconsin. There, Donald and Mildred, with the help of her brother Lee, built their own cabin, where they would travel twice a year to pick blueberries and be close to Mildreds family. Mildred loved to watch the midwest foliage turn in autumn, and when a particularly beautiful leaf would fall, shed save it, sometimes sending it in a letter or pressing it in a book. We hold you likewise, Mildred, as something fine and beautiful, a memory to be preserved and shared. Memorial Service Saturday, February 27, 2016 01:00 pm OAK PARK HILLS CHAPEL 3111 N. MAIN ST. Walnut Creek CA 94597