Frances B. Johnson, 92, passed away on January 20. Johnson was an avid golfer, basketball player and bowler.
Born April 29, 1933, in Golts, Maryland, Frances was the daughter of the late Erving and Minnie Brown. Growing up in a farmhouse outside of Townsend, Delaware, she graduated from Middletown High School in 1950, playing field hockey and basketball while attending. Her senior trip took her to New York City that year.
Frances went to work at the Delaware Department of Motor Vehicles after high school, working in the payroll department until her second son, Mark, was born in 1959. She and her late husband, Bucky, were members of the Shawnee Country Club where she was a member and team captain of the lady’s golf team. Frances was a three-time club champion and member of the Women’s Peninsula Golf Association.
An avid sportswoman, Frances played basketball as a guard in the Kent County Women’s Basketball League in the 1960s and early 1970s. She was also a member of the Gooden Florist Bowling Team during that time and once bowled a 243 game.
Frances loved the outdoors, working in the yard and Saturday night card games with friends.
“Fran was my good friend, my golfing buddy and like my second mom,” Linda Irwin said in Frances’ memory book. “I will never stop thinking about you and will be ready to plan another round when we meet again.
Harriet and Ed Miller also mourn her passing.
“Our sincere sympathies,” they wrote. “We have known Franny for a long, long time. She was like family to us. She will be remembered as a “First Class” lady.”
She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles “Bucky” Johnson, her brother, Bill Brown and her sister, Mary Wright.
Frances is survived by her sons, Michael (Marie) Johnson and Mark Johnson. In addition, she is survived by three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, seven nieces and nephews, her sister, Kaye Heinold and her sister-in-law, Rita Brown.
A funeral service will be held at Avenue United Methodist Church, 20 North Church Street, Milford, at Noon on Saturday, February 7 with a viewing starting at 10 AM. Interment will be in Slaughter Neck Cemetery that afternoon.
In lieu of flowers, donations in her name may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.
