Mrs. Ruby Mae Johnson

 Ruby Mae Johnson, our beloved mother, grandmother, aunt, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother, was proudly born on Big Sandy Creek outside of Sayersville, Texas, on September 29th, 1930, to Isaiah Thomas, a grocer and veteran of the First World War, and Lula Mae Thomas (née Morgan), a homemaker and nanny. Ruby, the first girl of six children, enjoyed the doting protection of her three older brothers and helped look after their baby brother and sister born later.

 Midway through her first-grade year, circa 1936, the family moved to the town of Elgin, Texas. The street where they settled would later become eponymous and bears the family name of Thomas to this day. She spent her school years in Elgin, active in her local Methodist Church, frequently going to conventions and usher gatherings.

One fateful day in 1949, through a mutual friend, she met a handsome charmer named Charles "CP" Johnson, fresh back home from Prairie View A&M University. After a short courtship filled with outings to town and long talks on porch swings, CP chivalrously mustered up the courage to meet Ruby's parents to confess his love and prove his worthiness by asking their daughter's hand in marriage. They wed on February 11th, 1950, and she moved with him to his hometown of Bastrop, Texas.

Once in Bastrop, she worked hard to provide their newly growing family a loving home. With her own money, she purchased a decommissioned army barrack from Camp Swift to act as the first Johnson Family home. This structure remains and provides the bones for the home in which she spent the remainder of her days.

Ruby's adult life could function as the personification of the word service. She joined Paul Quinn AME Church shortly after her arrival at Bastrop, where she volunteered in the children’s ministry and served as usher board president for decades. Later, Ruby became a member of the Order of the Eastern Stars. She took night classes at the Kerr Community Center, earned an LVN license, and practiced at Bastrop Memorial Hospital. After her tenure at the hospital, Ruby established a daycare service in her home where she cared for the children of some of Bastrop's most prominent families. She served as a roommate to the classes of many of her ten children and was a local favorite at the concessions of the Bastrop Varsity football games.

Post-retirement, amid raising bountiful vegetable gardens and chicken crops, she provided elder care for Buck Steiner, the patriarch of Steiner Ranch. For years, every August, she could be found at Mayfest Park during Bastrop Homecoming, selling her famous peach cobbler and black-eyed pea gumbo.

Among her many passions, fishing, playing dominoes, and cooking were top of her list. Any chance she got, she could be found at the edge of some stock tank or lake with her pole in the water and a stringer full of fish. Every family gathering was inevitably punctuated by the dominoes coming out; somehow, win or lose, she never had to shuffle. Ruby’s kitchen was the centerpiece of her home and as the family matriarch, all of her descendants have had a delicious bowl or plate of her love from the first seat at her kitchen bar.

Having been blessed with a long and bountiful life, Ruby was called home to glory on October 26th. She was preceded in death by her husband of 41 years, CP Johnson, both parents: Isaiah and Lula Thomas, brothers: Curly Thomas, S.B Thomas, David Thomas, Walter “Pokey” Thomas, and sister: Rosetta “Buddie” Thomas, children: Linda Owens, Larry Johnson, CP “Bubba” Johnson Jr, Ruby Renia Harris, and Cavin Johnson, and her granddaughter: Cynthia Owens.

 She leaves behind a host of loved ones to cherish her memory. Among them are her four daughters: Cladie Johnson-Haywood (Jerry), Venice Johnson-Carter (Clarence), Debra “DJ” Reynolds, and Mona Johnson-Williams (Kenneth); nine remaining grandchildren; and many nieces, nephews, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren alike.

 Ruby will be remembered for countless amazing things. Above all were her class, love for her family, and unwavering faith in the Lord. Her strength, pride, and fortitude have surely left an indelible mark on all who have encountered her in mortal life, and the memory of her character will serve as an example to others as she transitions to her immortal life with Christ.

 Forever in our Hearts

Family and Friends will gather for a Visitation at Paul Quinn AME Church on Thursday, October 31st, from 6:00 PM until 8:00 PM.  A Home-Going Celebration will be held at Paul Quinn AME Church on Friday, November 1st at 11:00 AM with Pastors E.D. Johnson and Carlton Harris presiding.  Interment will follow at Fairview Cemetery.