May 26, 1927-Jan. 15, 2009
Mary Alice Johnson, 81, died on Jan. 15, 2009.
She was born on May 26, 1927 in La Grande. She spent her childhood on the farm and in the city of La Grande.
Born into a Depression-era family, she remembered how her mother raised her four children and sent each one to college in spite of having lost her husband when Mrs. Johnson was only 8 years old.
Mrs. Johnson graduated from University of Idaho with degrees in music and pursued a music career throughout her married life upon moving to Salem in 1950.
She was organist at Westminster Presbyterian Church for 38 years, from its inception onward. She met and maintained many of her closest friends there.
She maintained a piano studio at home and taught cello at Western Oregon State College (now Western Oregon University) while she continued her own studies on cello, studying with Robert Hladky at the University of Oregon.
She also studied with Bruce McIntosh at Willamette University and played cello in the Salem Symphony (now the Salem Chamber Orchestra) from 1962 to 2001.
She will be remembered by her friends and family for her strong and positive spirit, her sense of humor and her ability to see beauty in nature and in those around her.
She was preceded in death by her father, Edward Jasper; her mother, Florence Jasper Belknap; and husband, Wally Johnson.
She is survived by her daughters, Paula Johnson of Henderson, Nev., Rhonda Johnson of Salem and Marilyn Tyler of Sweet Home; son, Kendall Johnson of Tulsa, Okla.; and seven grandchildren.