Odette Wadsworth Johnson

Someone once asked her mother how many children she had. Without pause she answered, ”Six children and Odette.” If you knew Odette you knew exactly what she meant because there was no one who came anywhere near to being the person she was.

Born in Prattville, Alabama, on April 20, 1930, to Frances Roy Wadsworth and Frank Love Wadsworth, Sr., Odette married Albert (A.C.) Johnson after high school and traveled with him for several years as a military wife before they settled back in Prattville where she worked for 38 years for South Central Bell and Bell South before retiring. Affectionately known as the “telephone lady” she could for many years tell you to whom everyone in town was kin and what their telephone number was.

A lifelong member of First United Methodist Church of Prattville, Odette was a member of The Myrtis Rice Sunday School Class. She also enjoyed membership in the Sosia and Estudie Clubs, The Daughters of the American Revolution and The Red Hat Society. For several years after her retirement she wrote a weekly “society column’ for The Prattville Progress.

Once a number of years ago some of her nieces and nephews and their extended families sought to enlighten their children’s knowledge of family by taking them on a tour of cemeteries where various ancestors were buried. The children were bored to tears and protested loudly. As they drove “up the hill” to see Odette, one of the children asked, “Is she dead, too?” He was met with a chorus of, “No, she is very much alive!”

And alive she was! She loved nice things-pretty diamonds, beautiful antiques, an occasional toddy and a good party. But there was so much more to her life and she always enjoyed “living” to its fullest.

Odette and A.C. didn’t have children, but together they helped to raise many nieces and nephews and each of them loved “Big Auntie” dearly. She proudly sat as a “grandmother” to more than one family member at their wedding. If she didn’t approve of their actions she was the first to tell them in a firm, but loving manner.

Many were her friends and acquaintances. She had a beautiful face, a lovely smile and a kind and generous heart. One never left her presence without feeling special in some way, whether you were a prince or a pauper.

And so it was that God called His “good and faithful servant” home. She will be greatly missed by many on earth, but I know that the gates opened widely for Odette and the streets of heaven will never be the same.

Odette was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, A.C, and her longtime companion, Edward Johnson, as well as her sisters, Leona and Lola, her brothers, Allen, Frank, Jr., Roy and McQueen and several nieces and nephews. She is survived by a host of nieces and nephews, spanning four generations, and many friends.

The Bible tells us that “To everything there is a season, a time to be born and a time to die.” Odette did it all-birth, life and death with dignity, loyalty and love. She will be sorely missed, but we know that one day we will see her again!

A graveside service for close family members only will be held at Memory Gardens Cemetery in Prattville on Saturday, January 2, 2021, at 11:00 A.M. In accordance with our governor’s mandate, masks will be required and accepted social distancing for outside events will be observed.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Capital Campaign of First United Methodist Church of Prattville, the Autauga Interfaith Care Center (AICC) or the charity of your choice.