- Date Of Birth: December 17, 1920
- Date Of Death: May 11, 2011
- State: Georgia
Mary Ockerman Johnson of Kennesaw, formerly of Newnan, completed her earthly journey at age 90 on Wednesday May 11, 2011 at her residence. She began this journey in Canfield, Ohio, on December 17, 1920, the third of five daughters born to James W. and Mildred Keene Ockerman. Known as Marga, a name given to her by her first granddaughter, she was preceded in death by her husband of 43 years, Paul Herbert Johnson; her daughter, Paula Johnson Arnold; and three sisters, Edna, Ellen and LaVerna. She is survived by her daughter, Pamela Johnson of Kennesaw; sister, June Ward of South Yarmouth, MA; son-in-law, James H. Arnold III of Lilburn; granddaughters, Mea Arnold, currently at the Embassy in Dakar, Senegal (husband Steve Perry) and Amy Arnold of Fayetteville; four beloved great-grandchildren, Austin and Anna Perry, and Evan and Belle Arnold-Hoffmann; and her devoted companion, Angel. As a member of the Greatest Generation, she lived through the Great Depression and World War II. She shared stories with her family about the creative and industrious things her family did during the Depression. One was of her family’s camping trip to Washington, D.C., in a car her father purchased for $25 and rebuilt. The four older sisters took turns sitting forward in the back seat while the youngest sat on her mother’s lap. They camped near the Capitol building and her mother cooked cabbage over an open fire, creating quite a stir among the other campers with its wondrous smell. She married in 1943 and her husband left shortly afterwards for England, taking part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. He flew several missions before his plane was shot down in Germany. He was captured and remained a POW until liberated in 1945. Their daughter, Paula, was born during this time. In 1953, the family moved to Newnan when the Wm. L. Bonnell Co. relocated there from Youngstown, Ohio. She was a member of Newnan First United Methodist Church and the Veatch-Nixon Sunday School Class. Determined that her daughters would go to college, she graduated from business school and worked as a secretary at Atkinson Elementary and Newnan High School before becoming a bookkeeper at Johnson Hardware Company until she retired in 1986. Upon her retirement, she and her daughter, Pam, spent many summers traveling and camping throughout the US and Canada. Her travels also included trips to England and Australia. Last June at the age of 89 she fulfilled a life-long dream of visiting the Normandy region of France during D-Day celebrations. A voracious reader, it was a challenge to keep her supplied with books. She delighted in the book sales sponsored by the Cobb County Public Library. Marga will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, grand and great-grandmother. She cherished all of her friends in Newnan and missed them dearly when she moved in 2006 to live with her daughter.
