Yvonne Johnson

Elder Yvonne Genevieve Butler Johnson was born on June 12, 1937, in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Genevieve and Alfred Butler, the second born and first daughter in the family.  As a child, Yvonne enjoyed visiting the hospital where her father worked. Though young, the hospital staff marveled at her sweet disposition and her willingness to be helpful. Yvonne found great joy sitting with her Uncle Everett, combing his wavy, salt and pepper hair and listening to him talk about the soon return of our Savior. The advent message was impressed upon her early in life and became a stable theme through adulthood. Yvonne was educated in the local schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma, attending Dunbar Elementary, Carver Jr. High School, and finally graduating from Booker T. Washington High School. Following graduation from high school, she enrolled in Riverside Hospital’s Nursing Program in Nashville, Tennessee where she completed the nursing program. It was there that she met and fell in love with James Johnson, a young, handsome colporteur. The two were married and moved to Denver where they lived until their deaths.

With a desire to further her education, Yvonne attended Metropolitan State College (now known as Metropolitan State University), in Denver, Colorado where she pursued and earned a B.S. degree in Nursing.  After working as night supervisor at the VA Hospital for 32 years, Yvonne retired. She took great pride in providing each patient with excellent care, faithfully delivering outstanding, loving attention to every person who needed her. Her genuine heart and compassionate nature allowed her to care deeply for not only her patients, but also family members and friends alike. Yvonne loved her family dearly, and her children were the light of her life. She explored new opportunities with gusto, committing herself fully with integrity and sincerity. Yvonne was faithful, kind, resilient, and loyal. Her strong Christian values guided her throughout life, and she was deeply loved.  Elder Johnson loved her church and participated in many ministries including Health Ministry, Women’s Ministry, Community Service, Adventist Youth, Disabilities Ministries, and as a church elder. In fact, she and James were part of the young group that helped to found and establish the Park Hill Seventh-day Adventist church in Denver.  In 2017, Yvonne received a much-celebrated award from the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists for her contribution to the Disabilities Ministries Department.

Yvonne was a farmer at heart; she had a green thumb and enjoyed sharing the fruits of her labor with friends and family. She spent many of her retirement days gardening – planting and harvesting, like a genuine urban farmer, her cat, Patches, by her side. Yvonne delivered an excellent interpretive soliloquy based on lives of women that she researched thoroughly, leaving her audiences spell bound.  She also enjoyed reading and traveling, but her very special gift and pleasure was cooking.

She would arrange church feasts, and whenever a friend was struggling or bereaved, she could be counted on to lay out a spread of excellent dishes, fit for queens and kings.

Yvonne was preceded in death by her: husband, James Johnson, Sr, grandmother, Ellen Tillman-Parker, mother, Genevieve Jackson, father, Alfred Butler I,  brother, Alfred Charles Butler II, sister, Kawasha Jackson, and uncle, Charles Tillman.

She leaves to cherish her memory: her loving and devoted children, James V. Johnson II, Valerie E. Johnson; sister, Eunice Bailey; aunt, Mary Harrison; nieces, Tonette Joseph, Jennifer Jackson, Carlyn Mason;  nephews, Carl Bailey II, Cecil Bailey; and a host of friends and family.   Rest well our beloved. We will miss you deeply!

Please use the following link to view the services for Yvonne and James virtually. https://event.forgetmenotceremonies.com/ceremony?c=01f2d4c8-23c5-424a-bf17-77c75d5cd8ca