Johnnie Mae Stanford

A Celebration of Life Service for Johnnie Mae Stanford of Bryan will be held Monday, January 12, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. at Central Baptist Church in Bryan, with John Maurer, Senior Adult Minister, Central Baptist Church, and Monty Hunt, President of Bridge Ministries, officiating. Visitation will be Monday from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. in the foyer of the sanctuary prior to the service. Interment will follow at Bryan City Cemetery. Mrs. Stanford passed away Wednesday at Woodridge Nursing Home in Grapevine, Texas.

Johnnie Mae was born in Bryan, Texas on December 29, 1918, to Minnie Bullock Wiley and John Welsey Wiley, Jr. Along with her parents and two sisters, she was a charter member of College Avenue Baptist Church, which would later become Central Baptist Church. She was a member of this church for 90 years.

Johnnie married the love of her life, Raymond Stanford, in 1938. They were married 70 years. Johnnie was preceded in death by her husband, Raymond, who passed away January 11, 2008. She was also preceded in death by her two sisters, Mary Maudelle Gray and Bessie Lou Barron, and her son-in-law, Ronald Dempsey.

She graduated from Bryan High School in 1936. An accomplished typist in High School, she went to work in the County Courthouse when she was fifteen. She worked ten years in the tax office and ten years as the Deputy County Clerk. After spending time at home with her family, which she called her volunteer years, she accepted a position with Texas A&M University’s Agricultural Economics Department where she worked for 10 years.

Mrs. Stanford was involved in many civic organizations. She organized the community’s first chapter of Beta Sigma Phi in 1947. In 2008, she was awarded the Beta Sigma Phi International Award of Distinction, its highest honor for her faithful and diligent years of service, and she remained active until the time of her death. She was an active life member of the Bryan Woman’s Club, joining in 1958. She was a member of the George Bush Foundation and the A&M Mother’s Club. She was one of the founders of the Pink Ladies, Hospital Volunteers for St. Joseph Hospital. She also served on the Board of the Brazos Valley Rehabilitation Center. She had an active member of the Brazos County Heritage Society. She was a charter member of the Opera and Performing Arts Society and Guild.

Johnnie Mae was always involved at Central Baptist Church. She started off working with children in the “cradle roll” department. When her youngest was 3 years old, she moved with her and worked with the 3 year-old department. Soon after, she was asked to be the Director of Central’s first Married Young People’s Department, in which many of our current senior adults were members, and she served in that capacity for 10 years. She then moved to the 4 & 5 year old class, called the Beginner Department, and she taught there for 50 years. This filled her life with so much joy. She retired when she was 85.

Johnnie Mae has traveled the world and loved meeting people from other cultures. She attended the Baptist World Alliance in Tokyo in 1970. For many years, she volunteered with the Discovery program, which is a program that ministers to the wives of international students at A&M.

She is survived by two daughters, Ann Stanford Dempsey of St. Simons, Island, Georgia, and Mary Lou Stanford of Grapevine, Texas; one son and daughter-in-law, Raymond W. Stanford Jr. and his wife Cheryl of Banning, California; five grandchildren, Raymond W. Stanford III and wife Theresa, Robert Jeffrey Dempsey, Dianne “Dee” Taylor and husband Eric, Noelle Salter, and Christian Stanford Hammons; eight great-grandchildren, Patrick, Allison and Meredith Dempsey, Emmeline Kinsey Taylor, Sophia Hammons, Natalie Jean Salter, Nathan James Salter, and Nisa Brazeal, and several nieces and nephews.

Memorials may be made to a Charity of choice.