Gwen Mills Johnson passed away peacefully at her home in Arlington, Massachusetts, on Monday, December 12, 2022. Gwen was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on July 21, 1943, and moved with her family to Jackson, Mississippi, in 1950. She graduated from Murrah High School in Jackson and matriculated at Millsaps College before transferring to the University of Mississippi, where she became a member of Chi Omega Sorority and earned both her Bachelor of Arts and her Master’s degrees in History.
Gwen married her high school sweetheart, Paul Hayne Johnson, III, in 1966. Over the course of their marriage, they lived in Dallas, Houston and Fort Worth, Texas; Jacksonville, Florida; and Oxford, Mississippi. Gwen set down roots everywhere she went, quickly making lifelong friends in each community of which she was a part. In Dallas, Gwen taught history and government at The Hockaday School for eight years, delighting her high school students with her enthusiasm for and knowledge of the American Revolution.
Gwen was an ardent supporter of her church, local museums and community symphonies and theaters. She also possessed an abiding love of gardening and the piano; she could often be found visiting local arboretums and continued her study of the piano throughout her final days.
Most notably, Gwen was a devoted wife and a caring mother, grandmother, sister and friend. She lived her final years in the greater Boston area, where she could be near family and where she often took visitors on bespoke tours of Revolutionary War landmarks.
Gwen was preceded in death by her parents Glendon O’Neal Mills and Ruth Turner Mills of Jackson, Mississippi; her son Brent Paul Johnson; and her husband Paul. She is survived by her daughter Dr. Blair Johnson Wylie and son-in-law Dr. John Voorhees Wylie, Jr.; grandchildren Sadie Hawthorne Wylie and Hugh Brent Wylie of Brookline, Massachusetts; her sister Copper Mills Alvarez and husband Dr. Frank Alvarez of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; nieces Catherine O’Neal Alvarez of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania; Caroline Alvarez Smith of Mobile, Alabama; and nephew Mark Hampton Alvarez of Dallas, Texas.
A memorial service will be held at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas, Texas, at 3pm on Tuesday December 20th, 2022. Reception to follow.
Contributions to honor Gwen’s memory can be made to one of the following organizations whose missions were important to her: St. Luke’s - San Lucas Episcopal Church: Food Programs (mailed to 201 Washington Avenue in Chelsea, MA 02150);
Esperanza Academy: The Esperanza Fund (esperanzaacademy.org/give or mailed to 198 Garden Street in Lawrence, MA 01840);
The Hockaday School: The Ela Hockaday Fund for Faculty Excellence (www.hockaday.org/makeagift or mailed to the attention of the Development Office at 11600 Welch Road in Dallas, TX 75209).
