Christine Elizabeth Johnson

Chris Johnson, 93, passed away peacefully on New Year’s Eve 2022, in Aliso Viejo, California.

Chris was born in Bad Axe, Michigan. She was a middle child of 3 loving sisters Norma, Alice and Jean and 2 brothers John and Andy. Her mother was Flora Ann McIntyre, and she was one of the first 100 nurses in Michigan. Her father, Roderick McIntyre was a top salesman in the area. After attending Central Michigan College, Chris moved to Lansing, Michigan where she worked at WKAR, the radio station at Michigan State University where she was the secretary to the Director of Music.

She met her future husband, Ron Johnson, at the Catholic Newman Center in 1951 on the campus of Michigan State. Chris was impressed by Ron. He was smart, good-looking, a good tennis player, and was able to get full scholarships in college. When Ron traveled back to the Johnson family farm in Parkhill, Canada, they would correspond by mail. They were married on September 6, 1952, in East Lansing. After they married, they lived in Ithaca, New York where Ron was a postgraduate student and received his PhD in Marketing & Business Management from Cornell University. As Ron moved up the corporate ladder and became a turnaround specialist and entrepreneur, Chris faithfully kept the family unit intact and in tow to new cities and communities facing new adventures and challenges starting with Midland, Michigan, the home of Dow Chemical where Ron took his first job in marketing. But then they were on to Canada with Sarnia, Ontario (Dow Chemical), Clarkson/Toronto (Massey Ferguson and John Deere), and Brantford (Ron Johnson Power Equipment Ltd), and then back to the US with Marinette, Wisconsin (Ansul Chemical Company), followed by Chattanooga, Tennessee (General Portland Cement), Brentwood/Los Angeles (General Portland Cement), and finally Fresno, California (Steam Cleaners Inc.). From 1953 to 1964, in the span of 11 years, they had 7 children: Ron, Kevin, Mike, David, Mary, John, and Christine. Somehow, Chris was able to manage her marriage and her family through all these various jobs Ron held and the accompanying eight major moves to new cities and the chaos of making new friends and entering new schools and new requirements and customs. Thanks to her loving care and attention, her family thrived for the most part and the lessons learned from these challenges would serve her children well in their later years when they were faced with their own new challenges and moves.

In 1964 Chris went back to work at age 35 and hired a full-time nanny she helped emigrate from Barbados, Wilhelmina Henry, to help care for her children. Chris was especially proud of the new teen and younger children's programs and the new leadership she brought to the YM-YWCA in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. After a few years, she became the Director of Girls' Programs. Under her leadership, the Y's membership flourished and increased by 100 new members in the girl's division alone. Her children all learned how to swim at an early age and some at the YWCA. Chris also pioneered a new daycare program (The Fun Club) for younger children ages 4-7 that gave local parents some welcome relief while their children were learning new skills and participating in fun activities. This children's program was widely adopted by the YM-YWCA in Canada and is still actively used today. Perhaps her greatest skill was developing talented and enthusiastic new young women leaders; she increased these leaders from 7 to 35 under her direction. "A good program with good leaders can provide an area for guided personality development- and keep children out of trouble," Chris was quoted as saying to the local staff writer who wrote a long newspaper article on her departure that was bemoaned by all 35 of her young women leaders, the children in the programs she created and the Y's management. "She is like a second mother," said assistant director Karen Antinow. "I would attribute the Y's success this year to her personality and her ability to get along with every age group. She (Mrs. Johnson) encourages us to think and act on our own. That is why she is so effective and so good for us." The newspaper article goes on to say: "It is not only the Y which will feel Mrs. Johnson's absence. When she first came to town the Dufferin Tennis Club was just about on its last legs. A keen tennis player herself, Mrs. Johnson talked tennis wherever she went and the membership grew from 98 to 450 with her initiation of Tuesday and Thursday ladies' day instruction and round-robin tournaments and providing encouragement for those women who had not played for 15 years or more." "She has been a real asset to the tennis club and the community," a Dufferin spokesman said. "A lot of people are going to miss her." Chris' singles and mixed doubles tennis championships at the Dufferin Tennis Club are reflected on the Club's trophies displayed in the trophy cases in the front card room where Chris also played many a game of contract bridge.

When Chris and Ron moved in 1969 to a logging town of 15,000 people in Marinette Wisconsin, it was a quick re-introduction of the children to the Midwest and the United States in the middle of the school year. The Canadian accents the children had acquired were noticeable and they quickly assimilated into the local tongue. Ron took on a new job as Director of Operations at Ansul Chemical Company. Following Ansul Chemical, there was a brief stint in Chattanooga, Tennessee of less than a year where Ron helped repair labor problems and turn operations around for General Portland Cement. It went so fast and well that General Portland transferred Ron and the whole family in the middle of the school year in 1971, to Brentwood, CA. The family had a beautiful home on Tigertail Road that included a large pool shaded by a mature Magnolia tree and very old wisteria wrapped around an arbor. One of the neighbors said that watching all of the Johnson children playing "Marco Polo" in the pool was like seeing the "8th Wonder of the World." Chris and Ron upheld their promise to their daughters, Mary and Christine, to buy a horse when they moved to Southern California, purchasing a beautiful gelding that was named Sir Galahad. Their girls and Chris enjoyed many years of English equestrian horse shows. Chris and Ron entertained their General Portland customers very well, including some golf junkets for couples to Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and Cypress Point, frequent LA Ram and Dallas Cowboy football games, the Super Bowl, and frequent trips to Acapulco and Mexico on private planes. Chris used to laugh about how she and her lady guests at Pebble Beach had to change in the parking lot because Pebble Beach did not have any women members or a women's locker room but they giggled and laughed all the way to the first tee because they knew it was truly special to be able to play one of, if not the finest, golf courses in the world.

Chris and Ron joined Riviera Country Club which has both golf and tennis facilities, where Chris picked up tennis once again. After having some joint pain, Chris joined Ron on the golf course, and a new passion was born. Later, Chris and Ron joined Los Angeles Country Club and Chris started playing with the ladies' group. She was quite competitive and took this drive with her when they moved to Fresno in 1979. They had been driving up to Fresno quite a bit to watch David play football for Fresno State. Ron decided to purchase Steam Cleaners Inc. and make Fresno their permanent home. The smartest thing Ron did in his business career was to hire his son David away from Xerox and make him a stakeholder in Steam Cleaners and its chief salesperson. David excelled and eventually took over the business in 2000 which has become an industry leader in California known for its water reclamation equipment and technology. Chris also helped in the office where she was affectionately called and known as "Mrs. J". She was the consummate and relentless salesperson and when Ron or Dave was not in the office, Mrs. J would lead the sales campaign from start to finish. Nothing brought a smile quicker to her face than when she was able to make a sale with a hard-working local farmer or someone she first met on the shop floor. As David recalls, "Mom was a great salesperson not because she was a good closer, it was because she was really focused on providing a needed service to her customer and had total empathy for them and an understanding of what they were up against. She first listened hard to identify what was the business need or problem to be solved and then she was in the best position to provide a solution that addressed a real need or problem." Chris and Ron joined Sunnyside Country Club and enjoyed golf once again. Chris won so many golf tournaments there that she was asked to stop trying so hard in tournaments, but that was an impossible task for Chris. While she won many beautiful trophies like Baccarat and Waterford crystals and silver trays and bowls, her real joy came from competing and regaling you in a story of how she found a way to get herself (and often her partner) in the winners' circle. It became very well known in her tennis or golf circles throughout her life that you definitely would want Chris on your team in any golf or tennis competition.

In 2000, Chris and Ron moved to Palm Desert. They lived in Sun City, a lovely golf retirement community for years. They made many new friends. Chris joined the ladies' golf group and was off winning more golf tournaments. They loved the Catholic Church there and especially Father Lincoln. He was an inspiration to so many of the aging population. Two years after Ron passed away at the age of 84 in 2012, Chris moved to The Wellington retirement community in Aliso Viejo. Once again, Chris was the life of the party and enjoyed her Merry Widows social group. She also enjoyed the putting contests and won several times. At the age of 89, Chris needed a caregiver. She was blessed with Marichu (Choy) Reves, Grace de Jesus, Grace Maravilla, and Evelyn Santiago who provided her compassionate care for several years and with great dignity during Chris' final days. The entire Johnson family would like to especially thank Doctor Erik Geiger who was her modern day Doctor Kildare and Choy who was her constant dear companion and friend for over four years. Choy’s loving and thoughtful care of Chris was more than anyone could ever hope for a loved one.

One of Chris's fondest memories of family came at a special Johnson family gathering for the 150th anniversary of Maple Grove Farm. This farm is a family owned and operated dairy farm in Parkhill, Ontario Canada. It was purchased by Ron's great-grandfather in 1858 and grew from the initial 100 acres to the current 200 acres. In the summer of 2007 generations of Johnsons and their close friends in the nearby communities joined together to celebrate the success of the family farm, the fruitfulness of its descendants, and, as expressed by Ron and echoed by Chris in a reunion dinner party toast, "the values of faith, family, hard work, and kindness… shared by my parents, learned from their parents, and passed down to my children to pass down to their children." Chris felt and appreciated the kindness of Ron's parents John and Catharine since the beginning of their relationship. They treated her with the same sense of welcoming and open-heartedness which defined the Johnson family reunion at the 150th anniversary of Maple Grove Farms.

Chris was blessed with 15 grandchildren – Katie, Charley, Michelle, Bailey, Kiley, Courtney, Jennifer, Max, Chandler, Matt, Brooke, Christine, Kyle, Colin, and Tyler. One of their favorite activities with Gran was to develop a "Secret Hiding Spot" or "Secret Passageway". Each one was unique to her grandchildren. Each grandchild felt that they were her favorite and they were at that time and place. Chris was also blessed with 7 great-grandchildren – Dillon, Callum, Sage, Clay, Malachi, Nora, and Bo.

Chris was predeceased by her loving sisters Norma, Alice, and Jean, her two brothers John and Andy, her mother, Flora Ann McIntyre, and her father, Roderick D McIntyre. Awaiting Chris' "arrival" is her husband, Ron Johnson (2012). She will also be reunited with her daughter Christine who sadly passed away in 2020 from complications stemming from several long-standing conditions caused by various cancer treatments she had as a teenager.

Chris Johnson has left an amazing legacy for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to carry on her love, laughter, competitive spirit, and strong faith.

***MEMORIAL DONATIONS may be made to support young women’s programs at your local YWCA***