Emma Johnson

Emma Lee Parker Johnson, 78, beloved mother, teacher, and friend, dedicated servant, passed away at home on Friday, May 10, 2024, after a courageous battle with cancer.  Born August 27, 1945, to Rosie Lee Clarke Parker and Emory Louis Parker in Millen, Georgia, she nurtured what became a life-long love of learning and sports.  She graduated from Jenkins County High School, where she played basketball and softball, and from Georgia Southern College with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Education before going to work teaching social studies. On June 7, 1969, she married Richard Alvin Johnson and they started their family while he was finishing his degree at the University of Georgia, after service in Vietnam. Emma continued her career in education at Morgan County High School, Hephzibah Middle and High School, where she coached girls’ basketball, and Screven County Academy.  She later received her second Master’s degree in Counseling in Education from Georgia Southern University. She became a Guidance Counselor first at Hephzibah and then enjoyed the longest service of her educational career as the Guidance Counselor for Edmund Burke Academy in Waynesboro, Georgia, from 1985 until she retired in 2014.  She served for many years as a Sunday School teacher and was a member of Green Fork Baptist Church. Her strong Christian faith provided a source of guidance and comfort throughout her life. In retirement, she continued her love of learning through reading and her love of sports through watching football and baseball.

Emma was preceded in death by her mother, Rosie Lee Clarke Parker, and her father Emory Louis Parker, as well as her husband of 37 years Richard Alvin Johnson, his parents, Thomas Allen Johnson and Dora Kathleen Wright Johnson, her brother-in law, Dewey Johnson, and her sister-in-law, Irma McBryant.  Emma is survived by her two daughters, Pamela Anne Johnson Baughman and her husband Benjamin Baughman; and Amy Janan Johnson Filson and her husband William Filson, as well as her grandchildren, Ford Filson, Luke Filson, and Katie Filson. She is also survived by her brother Louis Parker and sister-in-law Debbie Parker, sister-in-law Lorene Coursey (Marvin), sister-in law Ava Hrodey (Jim), and brother-in law Jimmy McBryant, many nephews and nieces, grand nieces and nephews, and many cousins. Emma and her kind and gentle counsel will be sorely missed by family and friends.

Funeral services will be held graveside at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at Green Fork Baptist Church in Perkins, Georgia, with Rev. Bruce Allen officiating and visitation with the family will be one hour prior to the service in the sanctuary. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to Green Fork Baptist Church, 2474 Perkins-Green Fork Road, Perkins, Georgia 30822, or to Edmund Burke Academy, 403 Highway 56 South, Waynesboro, Georgia 30830.

DeLoach-McKerley-Prescott Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 220 East 6th Street, Waynesboro, GA   30830 (706-554-3531). You may sign the guest book at www.deloachfuneralhomes.com.