Obituary of Dorothy Jean Johnson

Dorothy Jean Johnson (née Moore) passed away peacefully on March 4, 2020, surrounded by her family and is survived by her children Wayne (Lynn), Sunny (Rusty), Wes, and Carson (Andrea), her grand-children Michelle, Travis, Phil, Corley, Patrick, Seth, Jackson, Virginia, Henry, Annie, Jedediah, and her great grandchildren Tatum, Skylar, Madden, Clinton, and Croix.

Dot was born October 25, 1935 in Latta, South Carolina. The second of nine, she spent her young life helping raise her siblings until she got married and moved away. She came home to Florence in the mid-60s with two kids in tow and worked at the Flamingo Grill as a newly single, working mother. One night, a tipsy, loud, funny man walked into the restaurant and flirted with her so much that she became flustered and fled to the kitchen in embarrassment. There, leaning against the wall, she told a co-worker, “I think I’m going to marry that man.” Dot was not spontaneous, not particularly romantic nor sentimental, but also not one to lie, so she did marry him and remained so until he died in 2018.

She soon had two more children and all the hang-alongs that came with them and her house was the safe place for a generation. She worked for Bob Russell Realty and was proud that the forgetful man always remembered her name before.

When her kids started having kids, her home was always open and she loved them all fiercely. She wasn’t outgoing and loud, but she was strong and determined and never scared. We will all remember mom because she made our lives better every day. She didn’t yell, didn’t demean, didn’t do anything except expect us to have manners and treat people with respect. If you see us open a door or pick up dishes after dinner without being told, that’s mom ingrained in us. If you see us sit quietly with someone and worry with them, that’s mom with us. If one of us welcomes you into our lives and takes that leap of faith, that’s mom too as she did with her Bill, trusting and knowing she’d made the right choice in him and we all know he knew he’d made the right choice in her because he said it often.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 Sunday, March 8, 2020 at Southland Memorial Gardens in the Mausoleum Chapel.  Family will receive friends following the service.  Family and friends may sign the online guest book at www.thompsonsfuneral.com