Becky Johnson

(From Ozark Funeral Home)

Rebecca Lee “Becky” Johnson, age 87, of Anderson, Missouri, passed away on July 11, 2026. She was born on November 13, 1938, in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas, the oldest of eight children born to Claude M. and Mae L. (Garoutte) Brown.

In 1956 Becky graduated high school in Sulphur Springs, AR. She worked at the telephone office in Sulphur Springs, then went to work as a guide at the Bluff Dwellers Cave south of Noel, MO, she also worked for seven years at Gallery Graphics in Noel, MO. 

Becky lived a life marked by faith, devotion, and steady love for her family and community. She married the love of her life, Wayne Johnson, on December 1, 1957 at the Mill Creek Baptist Church, and together they built a life rooted in hard work and perseverance. In the early years of their marriage, they rented a farm down in the valley on Mill Creek Road and began a dairy operation that would become the center of their family’s life. After a few years, Becky and Wayne moved their herd and their two young children a few miles around the bend to Deer Creek Road. A year later a third child was born a baby girl. We called her Shorty! Together they milked cows for more than 40 years before hanging up the milk buckets and settling into raising beef cows. Through every season of life, Becky stood beside Wayne with strength, grace, and a quiet determination that reflected the kind of woman she was.

Becky was a Christian woman and a devoted member of Mill Creek Baptist Church near Noel which was her home church, she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour at the age of nine in this church; she was also married in this church in 1957. Becky was the pianist for over 60 years; was a Sunday School Teacher and Church Treasurer. She joined the Elk River Baptist Church in 2026 and was a member there till her passing. She enjoyed playing the piano, reading, history, traveling, playing volleyball, cooking and sewing (she was an amazing seamstress). Her faith was not only spoken but lived each day through the way she cared for others, welcomed those around her, and met life’s challenges with patience and trust in God. She was known by family and friends as loving, kind, and generous, and those qualities were evident in the way she treated everyone she met.

Family was the center of Becky’s world. She was preceded in death by her parents, Claude and Mae L. (Garoutte) Brown; her husband of 62 years, Wayne Johnson; her son, Andrew Johnson, sister, Joyce Deaton and brother, James Brown. She is survived by her daughters, Karen Gardner (James Hampton, fiancé) of Oklahoma, and Amy Rice (David) of Joplin, Missouri, along with grandchildren, Jami Spurling (John) of Bella Vista, AR, Clinton Gardner (Jessica) of Jane, MO and Lindsey Poston (Beau) of Dallas, TX; great-granddaughters, Avery and Kamryn; sisters, Mary Lou Durbin, Lorraine Fauver, Linda Wilkerson (Gene) and Nellie Goodman; brother, Mike Brown (Charlotte), brother-in-law, Max Deaton (Kathy) and sister-in-law, Karen Brown; along with extended family members who will cherish her memory. Becky’s life will be remembered through the values she instilled, the love she gave freely, and the example she set through a lifetime of faithful service to her family.

Funeral services for Becky will be held at 2:00 pm on Friday, July 17, 2026 at the Mill Creek Baptist Church in Noel, MO with Pastor Mark Hall and Pastor Max Deaton officiating. Burial will follow the service in the G.A.R. Cemetery in Sulphur Springs, AR. Visitation will be held on Thursday, July 16, 2026 at the Anderson Chapel of the Ozark Funeral Home from 5:00 to 7:00 pm, the family will receive friends at this time.