Charlene (Cole) Johnson

Yet another living light in the world has been extinguished. Charlene Cole Johnson passed at home into the presence of her Lord on February 4, 2020 at the age of 93. She was the daughter of Paul Cole and Maude Mayo, and was born in Leesville, Louisiana on September 30, 1926.

Charlene was raised primarily by her mother’s parents and spent her young years in Leesville and the small townships of Slagle and Cole Central, in the heart of Vernon Parrish, Louisiana. She married Jay W. Johnson at the age of 16 on Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1942 at her grandparents’ home. After Jay's return from the European theater of World War II, they moved to the pioneer town of Los Alamos, New Mexico, where they would establish a beverage business which they ran until 1953, upon which they would sell and move back to Anacoco Louisiana where their son Russell Paul would be born on Christmas Day that year. From then on, Jay would work for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service and Charlene as a Dental Hygienist for the US Civil Service. As a couple, they would live and work in several states such as Louisiana, Georgia and Maryland. They both also lived and worked in the Panama Canal Zone and South Korea throughout the 1960s. Jay and Charlene would both retire at Ft. Stewart, Georgia in late 1972 before moving with their son to Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1973. She loved to travel and see the country and did so with her son all her life. The family, being used to moving, would also continue and move back to Los Alamos, Las Cruces, DeRidder and Leesville, Louisiana several times until Jay's death on Labor Day 2006 in Las Cruces. Her final move would be in November 2019 with her son to their new home in Albuquerque, NM.

Charlene was a member of the Orange Chapter of the Eastern Star, and was always known as a generous, outgoing and compassionate woman. She gave of her time to help orphans in South Korea find homes, but she was best known for being a "mother figure" and role model to a number of young adults and children growing into adulthood, both family and friends. She was a loving mother and wife and will be greatly missed by a number of relatives and lifelong friends.

She is survived by her son, a half-brother, a half-sister, and several cousins, nieces and nephews, primarily in western Louisiana and central Texas. Although it’s impossible to acknowledge them all, special mention will be made to Anita Jo McAfee and Bonnie Johnson, who she loved as if daughters. Also, special mention to Arlene Cook, Margaret Crowe, Joan McWilliams and Melvena Bailey who are still living and kept in contact throughout the years. She would also like to thank others such as Cynthia and Cliff Pittsenbarger of Las Cruces who formed a personal friendship in the final years. She would especially like to thank special friends Diedra Thomas of Los Alamos, NM, and Ron, Carolyn and Kevin Stafford of McKinney, TX who will always be regarded as adopted family.

Friends and family may visit Thursday, February 13, 2020, 10:30 a.m., at FRENCH – Wyoming in Albuquerque. Interment will follow at 2:00 p.m. at Santa Fe National Cemetery where Charlene will be interred with her husband. An informal private graveside gathering with family and friends will be decided at a later date.