Mary Love Johnson

Mary Aird Love Johnson died on March 28, 2008, forty-five days before her 100th birthday, at her home in Langdon Place of Keene, N. H. Mary was born on May 11, 1908 at home in Auburn, MA, to Mary Perry Love and William Wyllie Love, the fourth of five children. She grew up in a large happy environment at the farmhouse, gathering place for extended family and neighbor folks, with music, games and animals around and community activities at church and the Grange. She was ever proud of her heritage as a member of an old New England family which arrived in 1634 at the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and of her immigrant father's Scottish Highland background. Mary graduated from high school in Worcester and from Worcester Hahnemann Hospital's nurses' training in 1929. She worked as an R.N. in and around Worcester until her marriage to Francis E. R. Johnson in 1934. "Johnny", her husband of sixty-six years, died on October 29, 2000. Mary lived a most creative and nurturing life. Her creativity was expressed in her beautiful gardens, in the gorgeous hooked rugs made from wools which she dyed, and in fine paintings of flowers, landscapes, and still-lifes. She loved children and animals, which she always managed to keep in her life. She was the "cookie lady" for many more children than her own. Mary was actively involved in her church during the thirty years she lived in Ho-Ho-Kus, N. J. and the twenty-five years she lived in Peterborough. She was the President and a long-time member of the Ridgewood Nurses' Guild in N.J. and was proud of having started the Brownie Scouts in Ho-Ho- Kus in 1944 which still runs today. Gregarious as she was, Mary made many friends wherever she lived. Summers were spent every year at the cottage built by her father-in-law in 1926 in Phillipston, MA, and still family-owned, where she has long-term fine friends. Mary leaves her daughter, Marilyn Burday of Spofford, N. H. and and her son, Jerome Johnson with wife Marilyn, of West End, N. C.. Her five loved and loving grandchildren are Andrew Burday of Spofford, Dr. David Burday of Tallahassee, FL, Ruth Burday of Troy, N. Y., Daniel Johnson of Winston-Salem N. C., and Nancy Johnson Fuller of Collegeville, PA. Great-grandchildren, Tyler and Audrey reside in Winston-Salem. She will be missed by her former son-in-law, Dr. S. Zane Burday of Pittsford, N. Y. Mary also enjoyed a special relationship with her nephew and his wife, Richard and Pat Salmonsen of Danvers, MA, their five children with partners, and twelve grandchildren, who were frequent visitors, much to her delight. A Memorial service will be held in late April at Langdon Place of Keene. The Cremation Society of NH assisted with the arrangements. To view the on line obituary or to send condolences go to www.csnh.com.