Rosemary Johnson

Rosemary Johnson went home to her Lord and Savior on Friday, August 14th, 2026. She was born to Edward M. And Dorothy I. Gass on March 23, 1937. Her entire life Rosemary was known as “Susie”, so named by her older sisters shortly after her birth. Susie was born in Indianapolis and attended St. Joan of Arc grade school and continued on at St. Agnes Academy before completing a year each at St. Mary of the Woods and Indiana University. She left college to marry, start a family and raise 4 children.

Mom had wonderful memories of life growing up on Washington Blvd with her parents, three sisters and a brother. From a very early age she was an avid reader and took great pride in the fact that her mother trusted her to take the bus by herself to the library even when she was very young. She continued on with a lifetime of reading. Eventually it became difficult for her to find a mystery at the library that she had not yet read! Other loves of her youth were dancing, swimming and diving and she enjoyed all at the Highland and Riviera Country Clubs as well as long summers at Lake Wawasee.

After marrying, but before having children, Susie worked for AT&T and L.S. Ayers in sales and absolutely loved all sales roles. However, her favorite and best role and title was “mom”. She created beautiful memories for her children with so many holiday traditions around Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving and Halloween. She made every important date special. She knew how to take something so simple and turn it into a cherished memory. She would take each child out of school one day in the year and have lunch together at the L.S. Ayres Tea Room before shopping together. And at Christmas each child would purchase a small gift for a sibling and mom would go from room to room and help with the wrapping. She was a fabulous cook and made every meal with love and expertise. The family would go to Kings Island for the day and the best part of the day was when we went out to the parking lot at lunch to eat mom’s fried chicken and brownies.

She must have spent half her adult life as a chauffer beginning at 5 am to head down Dean road in her robe to drop us off at the racquet club and then end the day after a late evening softball game, where she was also the coach!

Once the kids were more self reliant, Susie went to work outside the home, first as a closing agent and then as a sales rep for RP Milhouse Builders. In all, Susie built 5 homes over her life for living and investment. She loved architecture and had a gift of organization and sales as well.

When she had free time, Susie was always a hiker and spent many years with the Hiking Club of Indianapolis trekking through State Parks. And when she wasn’t hiking with the club, she was walking with her constant companion of 20 years, her beloved dog, Sophie. Mom and Sophie were a great team. She loved cards and hosted many bridge gatherings with friends over the years. She also was a gifted artist and painted more in her retirement years. She created lovely, personal cards and several treasured oils on canvas.

If there was one thing she enjoyed more than any other, it was cheering on her grandchildren. ‘Grandma’ sat on countless bleachers over the years watching her grandchildren play tennis, hockey, baseball, softball, run cross country and track, and even ride horseback for 4H.

Susie was preceded in death by her parents, Edward and Dorothy Gass, Her Sisters, Patricia (Jim) Norman, Dorothy (Bill) Sylvester, Carol (Jim) Hill, her brother Ed (Pat) Gass and her Grandsons Kyle Hollen and Jack Faler. She leaves behind her four Children, Mike (Teri) Johnson, Nancy (Tim) Briggs, Kelley (Woodie) Faler, and Karen (Dan) Courtney. She had 10 Grandchildren, Kyle, Jessica, Christopher, Natalie, Emily, Andy, Adam, Jack, Kevin and Lucy. She had 6 great grandchildren Jaylen, Jasmine, Christian, Malcolm, Vivian and Bennett.

She will be interred at Calvary Cemetery in Indianapolis with her family.

In lieu of flowers, contributions would be welcomed at St Joan of Arc school in Indianapolis. https://pushpay.com/g/stjoanofarc