May 8, 1937, to May 15, 2021
A Well Lived, A Life Well Loved
A few words to describe Dolores A. Johnson: strong, independent, fearless, funny, adventurous, storyteller, teacher, traveler, curious, sassy, bold, loving. All who knew Dolores loved her upon meeting. She had the warmest and most loving personality and would go far out of her way to help friends, family, and strangers alike. She easily switched gears between mother, sister, aunt, friend, and nurse seamlessly, making one feel that all five were one in the same, because to Dolores, Del, mom, sis, auntie, and Mimi, they were. They were simply titles to carry and hats to wear, but the love and devotion was all the same. She gave nothing less.
Dolores was born in Mandeville, Jamaica and grew up in the country raised by her “village” surrounded by love, headed by her grandmother, Didorah (Gahn Gahn) White, her Aunt Zoe and her Uncles Jim and Carbonel along with brothers Trevor and Clive and countless cousins. Her mother, Eugenie, worked in Kingston and Del would later reunite with her there to complete her secondary education. It was through her “Gahn Gahn” she learned and developed her strong faith in God, which she carried throughout her life until the very end. It was a wonderful life. Even though they were financially poor, they were rich in the things that mattered: family, land, food, skills and most of all love. In 1952 at the tender age of fifteen, Dolores left her island home for a nursing education in England. She made a stop in New Jersey to visit her mother Eugenie, who had emigrated to the United States two years prior, before sailing to England. Following her passion for nursing turned into an amazing career spanning over forty years.
While in England Dolores met a handsome military man named Harvey Johnson, and after they were married in 1961, they moved to America a couple of years later. Their happy home increased in number, first with daughter Karen and then two years later, Harvey Jr. (Kelly). Harvey’s family embraced and loved her as one of their own. Many of Harvey's nephews and nieces still think very fondly of their “Aunt Del.” After Harvey’s retirement from the Air Force in 1972, the family moved to New Jersey to be closer to Del’s beloved mother, Eugenie (Jennie) and her brothers, Clive and Trevor and their families. Life was not all sunshine and roses, but Dolores and Harvey did their best to raise their son and daughter together. They divorced in 1979 and Harvey passed away suddenly in November of 1981, but their love for their children and each other endured through that end. A few years after Harvey’s passing, Dolores moved to Florida. Creating a temporary home in Seffner, she set about establishing a sense of permanence. Within a year she bought a house in Brandon and has lived there until her passing.
Dolores loved to travel. Favorite trips included Greece, Egypt, India, and France. She always had stories, photos, and experiences to share of the many places, people, and cultures she was blessed and fortunate enough to visit and meet. She was able to combine her love of travel with her willingness to serve. In the late 1980s with Karen and Kelly grown adults, Dolores left Florida and set forth to Saudi Arabia to work at the King Fahad Specialist Hospital in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She, along with countless others from literally all over the world, helped to open the new hospital with Dolores being one of a small team of Nursing Supervisors overseeing the development of the nursing program. After moving to Florida in 1984, she became a founding member of the Caribbean Cultural Association and went on several mission trips to Jamaica until she was no longer able to travel. Dolores had dreamed to one day serve in the Peace Corps. She remembered Peace Corps volunteers visiting her island home and vowed one day to return the kindness. She fulfilled that promise. After retiring from the Veterans Administration in 2000 and witnessing the birth of her granddaughter Kalena in February of 2002, she joined the Peace Corps serving for the following two years in Nepal, where she taught nursing students at Balkamari College.
Dolores was always ready and willing to be of service. Previous to her work with the Peace Corp and Caribbean Cultural Association, she became a member of Sigma Gamma Rho, an historically black sorority, in the early 1980s. Her sorority work included raising funds to provide scholarships for graduating high school seniors who would be attending college. Her love of her sorority flourished and she helped establish collegiate chapters in Boston and Virginia. After returning home from her Peace Corps assignment, Dolores joined the Tampa Chapter of AmeriCorps as a volunteer assisting 1st graders in developing their reading skills at Foster Elementary School. And as if that weren’t enough, she was always ready and willing to help out at granddaughter Kalena's Lomax Elementary School and then at her Orange Grove Middle School.
Dolores was very curious, always willing to learn and incredibly creative. As a military spouse, she learned ceramics and gifted much of her artwork to friends, family, and loved ones. She also sang with the various military post church choirs. When the children were solidly in elementary school in New Jersey after Harvey’s retirement, Dolores enrolled in the local community college taking creative writing courses, and her garden was the envy of the neighborhood as she cultivated roses and grew mint for fresh mint tea. Anyone who knew Dolores knew how much she loved to entertain, and homemade baked goods and food made with love filled the stomachs of many. She knit, crocheted, and sewed, even handmaking her daughter Karen’s prom dress! Yes, Dolores loved and showed her love in these and many other ways.
As Dolores entered her Golden Years, her health took a turn when she was diagnosed with COPD and soon began oxygen 24/7. In steady decline, when Karen took the car keys from Dolores, Del, with her 'can't stop me' spirit, took the license plate from the car and affixed it to her walker and kept right on going. She became weaker and weaker as her illness progressed. During a lengthy and very emotional stay in Saint Joseph's Hospital in Riverview, Florida, Dolores was blessed with another birthday on Saturday the 8th of May, followed that Sunday by Mother's Day. After consultation with doctors, a wonderful nurse practitioner and family, the decision was made to not stand in the way of God and nature. Dolores was transferred to Lifepath Hospice in Sun City, Florida. Her son Kelly says that during this time, she and God were negotiating and finalizing things, and on Saturday, May 15th, 2021, Dolores Johnson peacefully passed away in the company of her niece Betty Ann Thompson and her son Khai, and dear friend and sister Esther Graham and her daughter Gretel. Dolores was a wonderful eighty-four years old.
Dolores A. (Allen) Johnson was predeceased by her mother, Eugenie (White) Summers, her father, Edward Samuel Allen, her brother Trevorald (Trevor) Allen and her former husband and love, Harvey Quince Johnson, Sr. Dolores is survived by her children, Karen Lea Johnson Slaton and her husband Ronald Slaton; her son Harvey Quince Johnson, Jr.; her granddaughter, Kalena Ronnie Slaton; her siblings Clive Thompson and his wife Hyacinth, Dudley Allen, Everly (Nesta) King and her husband Mackenzie, Veronica (Peaches) Robinson, Elaine (Bobs) Wright, Ingrid J. (June) Wright, Vivette (Vivia) Poplin and her husband Zoltan Karacsony, Annette Allen, Gaston Allen and his wife Sophia, and her sister in love, Jasmine Allen (former wife of Trevor); and countless other precious nieces, nephews, cousins and very dear friends.
Rest in Heaven, Dolores. You lived your life well, and you were well loved.
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