Veronica Magdelena Johnson

Veronica Magdelena Johnson, age 93, passed away peacefully while in hospice in Orlando, Florida on October 23, 2021. Before moving to Orlando, Florida in 2020, she lived in Orangeburg and Nyack, NY for most of her adult life where she raised her family.

Veronica was born in Rutherford, NJ on October 24, 1927, to Peter and Mary Unterreiner, Veronica is predeceased in death by her parents, Peter and Mary Unterreiner, her husband, Robert C. Johnson and brother, Robert Unterreiner, of Chicago, IL.

She is survived by 5 daughters, Mary Kirk (husband Gary Kirk), Warner Robins, GA, Julee Johnson (husband Kyle Swan), Rockland, ME, Stacey Johnson-Beu (husband Andy Beu), Orlando, FL, Elizabeth Cope (husband James Cope) , New City, NY, Susan Johnson-Finch (husband Charles Finch Jr.), Pearl River, NY, and step-daughter Patricia Brown (Palos Verdes, CA), 6 grandchildren, Jason Kirk, Ashley Kirk Parker, Julian Loo, Kelly Fitzgerald, Anastasia Finch, Emily Cope, Julia Beu and 3 great-grandchildren, Jason Ryan Pietras, Katie Blake Kirk and Jason Robert Kirk, Jr.

When she was 18 years old, Veronica embarked on a professional figure skating career and spent the next 20 years traveling the world skating with a variety of ice shows, such as Ice Vogues, Holiday on Ice and was one of the Roxyettes at the Roxy Theater NY. In addition to her love of figure skating, she was talented with the crochet needle and left behind many beautiful pieces, lovingly preserved. Veronica loved to garden and spent many years supporting the garden at St. Ann’s Catholic Church in Nyack, NY as well as a long-time member of the Ladies Rosary Society at St. Ann’s. She was a veteran gardener and board member in the Nyack Community Garden. Along the way she volunteered for the So. Orangetown Ambulance Corp as a dispatcher, was a Girl Scout Leader, a volunteer at Nyack Hospital where she delighted in taking pictures of the new babies. She also worked at the voting polls during elections in Nyack, NY.

Veronica was a Rockland County Civil Service employee for over 25 years. She held various positions: Rockland State Hospital in Orangeburg, Dept of Social Services in West Nyack, Rockland Community College in Suffern, and the Robert Yaeger Health Center in in Pomona, when she retired in 1986.

She was a loving and generous mother, aspirational for her five daughters, and incessantly carpooling them to music, dance, tennis, swimming, ice skating and skiing lessons and any other enrichment endeavor of the moment. An attentive grandmother to her local grandchildren, she could always be counted on to “Grandma-Sit” whenever the need arose, especially school and summer vacations. She championed frugality and common sense during her life-time and enjoyed family gatherings where “home-cooking” led the day. She generously contributed to everyone’s gardens and loved seeing how they fared each visit. She was the center of the wheel of our lives and will be greatly missed and always treasured.

Veronica will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at Rockland Cemetery in Sparkill, NY. Arrangements are in the care of Woodlawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home, Gotha, Florida.