Lartharee Helen Johnson

Lartharee Helen Johnson

Lartharee Helen Johnson (Helen) was born on July 5, 1932, in Nashville,

Tennessee, to Isaiah and Annie Bell Brunson. She was the youngest of &ve

girls – Mary Beene, Willie Brunson, Emma Howell, and Anne Lewis, all of

whom preceded her in death. She grew up in Tupelo, Mississippi, where her

father pastored the Spring Hill Baptist Church. She was active in the choir

and many other church activities. After graduating from Carver High School

in 1950, she boarded a train at age 17 to attend Lane College, where she

graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1954.

After graduation, Helen moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where her sisters

lived. She met and married James Harper and began a family. She later

married Russell Johnson, and together they raised their four children to love

the Lord and be exceptional citizens.

Helen knew she was called to teach. Grand Rapids was not hiring colored

teachers at the time, so Helen worked for the phone company until she

secured a teaching position with Grand Rapids Public Schools. There, she

taught English and Math before becoming a Reading Specialist. She spent

her summers with her two closest friends and collaborators, Barbara Moore

and Delores Robinson, developing Reading curriculum for District-wide use.

She was active in several local, state, and national Reading Associations and

presented at national reading conferences. She retired after more than 40

years of teaching, having impacted the lives of generations of learners.

Helen was an active member of Messiah Missionary Baptist Church of Grand

Rapids, Michigan. She served for countless years as a Deaconess, as the

Chair of Christian Education, as the leader of Vacation Bible School and the

New Member classes. She also organized an after-school tutoring program at

the Church, and co-taught the Intermediate Boys Sunday School Class with

Russell, who was a long-serving Deacon of the Church.

Helen was involved in many other community activities and groups. While in

college, she pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; she later became a

founding charter member of the Grand Rapids Alumnae Chapter. She was

active in the Grand Rapids Study Club, the Giants Selection Committee, and

the Phi Sigma Theta professional fraternity. In her later years, Helen read two

printed newspapers, one of which was The New York Times, cover to cover,

and she was well-known for clipping articles to share with her children and

friends.

Helen was an excellent seamstress and made the Easter dresses and

matching coats for her young daughters. She was an excellent cook who

believed in setting an exquisite table to receive dinner guests. She was

tenacious about proper etiquette, evidenced by her etiquette classes and,

more importantly, by training her children at a young age on how to set a

formal table. These lessons did not end with the table setting, but continued

to decorum at the meal itself – often repeating to her children the admonition

she heard from her mother that they should “Eat at their table as if they

were eating at the table of a king.”

Helen loved family and extended her sense of family to many. Her children

often joked about the number of people who called her “Mom.” She had a

heart for giving and she and her husband &nancially supported many beyond

their immediate family in attending college.

Most of all, Helen Brunson Johnson loved the Lord. She and Russell raised

their family in reverence and obedience to God. She dedicated several hours

every day to prayer, scripture reading, engaging in personal devotion, and

journaling about revelations she found in God’s Word, only departing from

this daily routine on the day she died. Although her physical body restricted

her movement, Helen was fond of reminding everyone that God blessed her

with a strong speaking voice and she used it continuously to tell anyone who

came into her presence about her Risen Savior. It was with that strong voice

that she ushered some into Christian fellowship from her wheelchair.

Helen went home to be with the Lord peacefully in her sleep in the early

morning on April 11, 2026, having visited with her children that evening and

with beloved sorority sisters earlier that week. She was preceded in death by:

her parents, Isaiah and Annie Bell Brunson; her sisters Mary Beene, Willie

Brunson, Emma Howell, and Anne Lewis; her husband Russell Johnson; her

daughter Etta Milton ; son-in-law George Maki; and grandson Christian

Carter. She leaves in God’s hands to cherish her memory: her daughters

Malekka Maki of Detroit, Michigan, and Giselle (Wesley) Spencer of Solon,

Ohio; her son Ralph (Lisa) Johnson of Lyndhurst, Ohio, and son-in-law Robert

Milton of Forest Park, Ohio; her six grandchildren, Courtney (Russell)

Larvadain, Isaiah (Robyn) Maki, Samuel Maki, Janae (Andre) Gilbert, Cameron

Johnson; and Kayla Milton; six great grandchildren; special niece Barbara

Bush; her many nieces, nephews, and cousins; and a host of lifelong friends

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