Lester Ray Johns of McCalla, Alabama was born in West Virginia and passed away peacefully at UAB West Hospital in Bessemer, Ala. on March 17, 2017. He retired from Mercedes Benz in 2008. A Celebration of his Life will be held at Memory Chapel Funeral Home, 2200 Skyland Boulevard East, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The family will receive friends at 10 a.m. Tuesday, March 21, 2017 and the Celebration of his Life at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Memory Chapel Funeral Home, a Dignity Memorial Provider, is directing.Sweet Ray was a loving, kind and gentle soul. To know him was to love him. Ray and his siblings grew up in Brighton, Alabama where they together forged a strong family which has held them together. Ray was survived by his loving wife of 56 years, Jeanette Johns; sisters, Wanda Cosby and husband, Henry, Jewel Gasper and husband, Paul, Julia Seale and husband, Bill, Helen Smith and Darlene Schweinberg; brother, Daniel Johns; sisters-in-law, Diane Boyd and Linda Allen; and a host of nieces and nephews. Ray was preceded in death by his parents, Joe Lester Johns and Faye Johns; brothers, Ronald Johns and Ricky Johns; and sister, Debra Nail.In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Red Cross.
