Nina Johnston

(From Clark Funeral Home)

Nina Quinn Johnston, age 88, passed away peacefully in her sleep on September 22, 2024. She was born on April 11, 1936 in Norfork, Arkansas to Augustus and Albania Harvey. She attended Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas where she met and later married Don Johnston on December 17, 1958 in Wheaton, Missouri. 

She is survived by her son and daughter Davis and Julie of Joplin, Missouri as well as her granddaughter, Laurinn Johnston and her mother Charlene Johnston of St. Augustine, Florida. 

Her husband, Don, preceded her in death in 2021.

She graduated from Harding College with a degree in Home Economics. Prior to her marriage, she was a Home Economist for Arkansas Power & Light traveling the northeast portion of Arkansas in an AP&L company car demonstrating the use of electrical appliances to housewives. After her marriage, she became a Home Economics teacher in the Stella and Midway school districts, later obtaining her certification as a Librarian and also as a Biology teacher. She spent her latter years teaching Biology at East Newton High School in Granby, Missouri until she and Don retired in 1987. After retirement, she worked as a seasonal National Park Ranger at the Big Hole National Battlefield in Wisdom, Montana for 10 years. She was a member of the Newtonia Battlefield Association and the Friends of the Nez Perce Battlefields in Montana.

She will be remembered for being one of a troop of teachers sponsoring the Junior class each year. Each spring for about a week, they commandeered the gym and supervised students in transforming the gym with miles of crepe paper into prom themes such as Shangri-La, Fantasy Under the Sea, and Nights on Broadway to name a few.

While the rest of us mere mortals donned clothing each day, Nina put on “outfits”, as she called them. Even after she retired, she got up each day and wore “outfits” that frequently consisted of tops, capris with coordinating embroidery, buttons, or trims, and scarves. She loved to watch old movies and once said she believed one of the reasons she loved them was because the women wore pretty dresses with matching hats, gloves, shoes, and purses.

She was very creative and was a very good artist as is evidenced by her artwork. In her retirement, she took a painting class in Bella Vista, Arkansas just to stay involved and meet people. She was famous for her painted pumpkins; Don would haul truckloads to the farm and she created an assembly line in the garage on plywood and sawhorses and painted faces on hundreds of pumpkins each fall.

She visited and sent cards to friends that were shut in for years and many of her friends reciprocated in these latter months, for which her family is appreciative. She will be remembered as fun and bringing cheer and laughter to any gathering and will be missed by many.

Visitation will be Wednesday, September 25, 2024 from 4-6 PM At Clark Funeral Home in Granby, Missouri. Services will be held on Thursday, September 26, 2024 at 1 PM at Clark Funeral Home in Granby. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to East Newton Foundation, 22808 East Hwy 86, Granby, Missouri 64844 or Neosho Christian School 903 West South Street, Neosho, Missouri 64850. Internment will follow in Macedonia Cemetery in Stella, Missouri.