Ruth Irene Johnson

Ruth Irene Johnson (Irene), 82, of Frederick, went to be with the Lord on January 29, 2009 at Kline Hospice House.

Born July 30, 1926 in Newport News, VA, she was the daughter of the late Franklin Fitzhugh and Ruth Lavinia (Llewellyn) Hopkins. She was predeceased by her husband, Walter Edward (Buck) Johnson, who passed away in 1973.

She lived with her husband and children in Damascus and was a charter member of First Baptist Church of Damascus. She moved to Germantown in 1973, where she continued to drive a school bus for special needs students for Montgomery County Public Schools. She retired after 25 years and moved to a beach retreat built by her family in Cove Point (Calvert County), MD.

She loved to walk the beach, collect fossils, read, crochet, attend Calvert Bible Church, and volunteer at the Calvert Marine Museum and for Calvert Hospice. But throughout her life her great passion was sharing her faith with others through home Bible studies and reaching out with compassion and love to those in need.

In her later years, she moved to Crestwood Village in Frederick to be closer to her family, and she attended South End Baptist Church. When her health began to fail, she moved to Country Meadows Retirement Communities of Frederick and, near the end, to Kline Hospice House.

She is survived by her sons, William F. Johnson and wife Vickie of Frederick, and Daniel E. Johnson and wife Cindy of Mt. Airy, and a daughter Christy Diane Johnson of Crosby, Texas. She was a grandmother to Carrie, Stacie, Tessa, Frank, Wayne, Tricia, Ben and Steve. She was a great-grandmother of 12.

She is survived by a cousin who was raised as a sister, Barbara Johansen Herfurth of Florida.

She is predeceased by a brother, Franklin F. Hopkins Jr., and a son-in-law Jerry Johnson.

Visitation: See above information

Services: A memorial service will be held Monday, February 9th at 10:30 a.m. at South End Baptist Church, 506 Carrollton Dr., Frederick, MD, officiated by The Rev. Kenneth Stalls. The family will receive friends prior to the memorial service at 9:30 a.m. Interment will follow for immediate family only, officiated by The Rev. Thurlow Switzer.

In lieu of flowers the family requests that contributions be made to Hospice of Frederick County, your local Hospice or to South End Baptist Church.