Lartharee Helen Johnson (Helen) was born on July 5, 1932, in Nashville, Tennessee, to Isaiah and Annie Bell Brunson. She was the youngest of five 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 “ She had a heart for giving and she and her husband financially 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 Gods 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 Gods 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 and colleagues.