Jean Scheufler JOHNSON

JOHNSON, Jean Scheufler

93, passed away peacefully April 4, 2017, at her bayfront home in St. Petersburg. Born in Nanping, China, to Methodist missionary parents, Jean returned as a toddler to Ohio, eventually attending Ohio Wesleyan University and Yale Divinity School. She married a fellow divinity student, Jay Stapp Johnson, and the two resided in upstate New York, where Jay was pastor of a church in Wanakena. In 1954, the Presbyterian Church sent Jean and Jay Johnson to Chiang Mai, Thailand, as fraternal workers. They remained for a decade, raising four sons there. The family returned to the States in 1964, living in Ithaca, NY, Madison, WI, and eventually St. Petersburg, FL. Jean worked in the Pinellas County Schools, serving as a vice principal at Boca Ciega and Northeast High Schools. Her passion was Asian handcrafts, and for a quarter century she initiated and ran a nonprofit enterprise to promote and sell imported handmade items. She is survived by sons, Lawrence of Los Angeles, CA; Douglas of Napa, CA; Mark of St. Petersburg; and Timothy of Washington, DC. A celebration of her joyous life will take place at 2:30 pm, May 21, at Lakewood United Church of Christ, 2601 54th Ave. S., St. Petersburg.