Robin Bishop Johnson

1955 - 2023

Robin Bishop Johnson

June 26, 1955 - March 20, 2023

Robin Bishop Johnson died peacefully on the morning of March 20, 2023, after valiantly battling non-alcoholic liver disease for twelve years. She was 67 years old.

She retired from her second career in 2016 after sixteen years as an English teacher in Houston Independent School District (Deady, Edison Middle Schools; North Forest High School) and Roanoke City Public Schools (William Ruffner Middle School; Forest Park Academy). She was beloved by her students, many of whom referred to her as their "School Mom."

Born in Ferrum, Virginia on June 26, 1955, to William Clarence Bishop and Shirley Hayes, she was the oldest of three siblings. She graduated from high school at sixteen and went on to study at Radford College before completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees at North Carolina State University.

In 1975, after marrying the man who fathered her only son Chris Johnson, she and her new husband Mickey Eugene Johnson enlisted in the United States Army. Completing the Army's basic training and serving a tour in Seoul, Korea were two of her proudest accomplishments. She was honorably discharged in late 1977 just before giving birth the following year at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

After a brief stay in the nation's capital, the family moved to Raleigh, N.C. before settling in Winston-Salem in 1981. She would become an accomplished politico in the early 90s and launch a bid for a position on the Forsyth County Board of Education. But as the nature of politics evolved she became disenchanted and disengaged to focus on growing her first career as a Certified Financial Planner.

Divorced in 1988, she eventually moved herself and her son to Jacksonville, Florida. After his graduation from high school, they moved to Houston, Texas where he attended the University of Houston and she pivoted her career to teaching.

She lived and died exactly as she wanted, remaining completely independent until the final weeks of her life. She leaves a legacy of lives forever altered through her teaching and is survived by her brother Robert Bishop (65), her son Christopher Mikel Johnson (45), her cat Izzie, and her beloved dog Kashmere who remained by her side until the very end.

Her ashes will be interred at Houston National Cemetery on Friday, April 28, 2023, at 1:15 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her name to plant trees in Appalachia via One Tree Planted.