Janice Pridgen Johnston

Volunteerism and community service combined with a generous helping of will and determination were hallmarks of Janice Pridgen Johnston's long life. She was born in the front bedroom of her parents' home in Wilmington, NC on October 4, 1927 and joined her husband, Archie Johnston, and many friends and family in heaven on July 8, 2018. During her 90 years of unselfish service on this earth, she showed us in so many "behind the scene" ways how to serve. Beginning with her 22 years of service as an Army wife, she showed us how the spouse of an active duty soldier serves, even though not in battle herself. She was an active volunteer at daughters Debbie and Donna’s elementary through high schools' clinics as a grey lady. During Donna's years at the newly opened Lincoln High School, Jan and Archie could be seen during the rival Leon/Lincoln football games sitting on one side of the stadium for one half of the game and moving to the other side during the second half as they were supporters of both girls and of both schools! Jan enjoyed volunteering her time in the East Hill Baptist Church library and was the Treasurer of the Mary Lou Tindall Sunday School class for many years. She also spent well over 35 years (almost 14,000 hours!) as a pink lady in the Women's Auxiliary at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. When Archie was asked to help get the Lifeline program up and running at TMH, Jan began volunteering with him. The two of them would climb in his Ford Ranger and travel up and down North Florida and South Georgia highways installing Lifeline units. She loved meeting those families and hearing their stories and she never, ever, forgot a name or a face!

Her grandchildren and her great grands were tops among the many joys of her life and she could always be counted on to be on the sidelines of many a crew regatta, baseball and soccer games, a dance recital or school graduation. She supported any fundraising event they brought her way and had the wrapping paper and magazine subscriptions to prove it!

Jan's last two years as a resident of Westminister Oaks found her in that same mode of service. There she enjoyed making new friends, taking a personal interest in each of them. She thoroughly enjoyed the music programs at the Maguire Center and didn't miss a Town Hall meeting where she could stay abreast of the current events, encouraging her neighbors to "get involved"! She faithfully remembered birthdays and made sure to send cards to everyone on her list - even while hospitalized, she insisted that one of her daughters make sure those cards made it in the mail in time for the person to receive their card! Her Christmas list was a mile long and up until the last few years, she meticulously wrote a personal note on each one of them, cherishing the friendships those cards represented.

Jan is survived by her daughters, Debbie Johnston Arnold (Robert) and Donna Johnston Bixler (John), her four grandchildren, Luke Bixler (Juli), Diana Bixler, David Arnold and Radik Arnold as well as three great-grandchildren, Noah and Eleanor Sheppard and Aubree Jane Bixler. She loved her nieces and nephews in Wilmington (Linda, Daisy, Nell, Donnie, Sandy and Mike and their extended families) like her own and leaves behind so many good friends and colleagues.

Her service will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, July 14, at East Hill Baptist Church, 912 Miccosukee Road in Tallahassee with a reception immediately following in the Fellowship Hall. Graveside interment at Culley's MeadowWood at 700 Timberlane Road will follow the reception. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory can be made to East Hill Baptist Church or the Tallahassee Memorial Hospital Animal Therapy Program at https://www.tmh.org/services/animal-therapy or by calling 850-431-5368.