Mrs.Yuriko Johnson

Born Yuriko Nakamoto, November 8, 1950, in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan; the only child of Chiyo Nakamoto and a Black American serviceman. She was three months short of 75 when God granted her rest. She passed away, peacefully, at home via in-home hospice.

Yuriko survived a quite tempestuous life on the island, never knowing quite where she fit in. At that time Okinawa and Japan as a whole was still quite a homogenous society and she related as to how her grandparents cared for her while her mother worked. As she grew, she connected with four other mixed-race females who currently live in the States and stay in contact with each other.

As told to the writer, Yuriko was involved in numerous fights predominately due to her skin color. Yet she prevailed and managed to finish high school. Yuriko then went through many menial jobs seeking ways to move up in life. Around eighteen, Yuriko became pregnant with her first child, a son, James. A year later, a second son, Eli was born. To make ends meet, she started working as a waitress and as a disco dancer with bands on the numerous military bases stationed throughout the island.

Her primary language was an Okinawan dialect of Japanese. She began learning English around 18 years of age and, once married to her husband, Elton, became even more determined to excel in the English language as their marriage progressed. Yuriko was one who, once she made up her mind to accomplish something, went all in. Thus from the time she first arrived in the United States, her primary focus was to attend English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, and she became quite proficient.

Over the years, since coming to the States and on overseas deployments with her husband, she worked primarily with the Army Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) receiving multiple awards for her quality of work. Outside of growing up and starting a life in Okinawa, God has blessed her to live in and visit multiple  countries and states. To name a few, Germany, where the marriage really started taking hold as there was no family around for either Yuriko or Elton to help defend their positions, thus they had to figure out a way to make it work, and work it did.

October the first and second of 2025 they marked 50 wonderful years of marriage (they married under United States Law on the first and Japanese Law on the second in 1974). Italy was a highlight as she would dive into the culture and as a result, her husband considers her Italian dishes to be her best (AFTER her shrimp fried rice!). It was just prior to going to Italy, while stationed in Washington, DC, that Yuriko, after nine years, became a naturalized American Citizen.

France was another country where she took a liking to the cuisine. Augusta, Georgia was one stateside location where she had fond memories. Yuriko’s passion for cooking and listening to others was amazing. She loved sitting down, giving you her undivided attention, listening to people talking, rarely interjecting however, when she opened her mouth to speak, people paid attention because she was a person of very few words, yet very profound words.

Talents, there was a time early in their marriage, she would actually make clothes, and she was very good at it, too. In fact, there was one time she and Elton had a Military Ball to attend. Yuriko shopped around but could not find anything she liked so, in a matter of days, she made an evening gown that blew everyone away. Another thing revealed about her early life in Okinawa was, whereas in the States we played dodgeball and games of that sort for break and recess in elementary school, Okinawans learned karate (Okinawa is where karate actually originates from) and that probably had a lot to do with the discipline she has shown her family these 50 plus years.

As growing up in a culture that prides itself on being homogenous, Yuriko’s early years were not easy whatsoever and, every once in a while, she would speak on how badly she was treated by neighbors, classmates, etc. strictly because of her skin color. That may have something to do with why she had such a heart for people, giving a helping hand wherever she went.

In fact, she was introduced to Jesus Christ in her latter teen years and expressed to her husband, Elton, early in their marriage, ‘I love Jesus more than I love you”. That love of Christ was probably the impetus for her sense of volunteerism all over the world. Because of her husband’s military duties, Yuriko has attended Christian services around the world, actively participating in Bible Study groups, choirs, ushering and even sitting on panels teaching God’s training manual for marriage. What she considers the single most important day of their lives was January 15, 2024 when they were both baptized in their back yard by followers of the First Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Another thing that brought her joy was attending any and all functions concerning their three sons; football, basketball, cross country and band to name a few. She continued working at AAFES during her husband’s final year of service, college graduation and when the job market brought them to Jacksonville, Florida in 2000. The question was posed to her: “What do you want to do?” as they were in a position that she did not have to work. Yuriko decided to become a cosmetologist and immediately enrolled in the Kenneth Schuler School of Cosmetology in Orange Park, Florida, pushing herself to ultimately obtain the title “Full Specialist”.

She remained in that field working with different salons such as Dillards, Belk, JC Penny and finally some smaller salons until 2017 at which time she proclaimed, “I’m retired!” It started as a job/hobby, but then it became a calling force. While working at Belk Salon and Spa in 2003 she was asked to volunteer to give manicures at Elmcroft Assisted Living ; Alzheimer’s Care Center in Jacksonville, FL. Yuriko jumped at the chance to help and what the director of the center thought would be another short stint as others would come for a while and leave, Yuriko, even after leaving Belk, continued volunteering there on her off days and even purchasing supplies with her own monies, refusing to be reimbursed, up until June of 2018 when she was first diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia with Parkinsonism.

She received a plethora of awards for her faithfulness. It was about February of that year when she had to cease driving to the center and that’s when her husband took over the driving duties allowing her to do that which she enjoyed. Sadly, by June, she realized she could no longer perform with the skill required and the Elmcroft Center threw an unbelievable “Thank You” party for her dedication, some even calling her an angel sent by God.

All that was a direct reflection of the life that she had lived prior to that moment, from growing up in Okinawa, being an only child,never knowing her father, constantly struggling to survive. That really brought forth the compassion out of her to care for people as individuals instead of treating them based on skin color.

She is survived by her husband, Elton Johnson, sons; James Johnson (Serena), Eli Johnson (Bonnie) and Taj Johnson. Grandchildren include Maalik, Zavian, London, Cassius, Lyriq, Tiffany and Terri. Multiple great-grandchildren; Landyn, Melina, Marla, Jayden, Xavier, and Carter, two sisters-in-law; Joyce Lane and Althea Johnson, who took her in as their sister, never once addressing her as sister-in-law.

Yuriko loved Elton’s mother as her own and is being interred very near her. Memories, there were so many memories. They traveled the world and did everything together. Looking at the pictures when they were in Italy making a day trip to Rome to see the Coliseum and the Vatican, Pisa to see the Leaning Tower, Germany’s Heidelberg Castle; floating down the Rhine River on a Riverboat, Paris, France to visit the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, Centre Pompidou, enjoying the beaches of Okinawa and the Mediterranean beaches of Italy, just family-type outings, goingto different places, spending time with family. These are the things  Yuriko enjoyed.

To her it was all about family and quite often that included extended family like neighbors and military members away from home who she would invite over for a homecooked meal. The words used to describe her focused on Christ-centered, gracious, cultured, sophisticated, yet humble. This will be a true Celebration of Life of a lady who had an impact on people wherever she went and thus will be sorely missed.