Mildred Anita Johnson

Mildred Anita (Reed) Johnson
On June 14, 2017, our beloved wife, mother, grandmother and sister joined the host of Angels and Saints in our Heavenly Father’s Kingdom.

Anita was born December 26, 1952, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Mildred Louise Sinks Reed and Charlie Melvin Reed. Anita, along with her mother and father and three sisters, relocated to Orange, Texas in 1962. While attending Stark High School, she met the love of her life, Randy Johnson, while “cruising the drag” with her sister, Mary and other friends, as many teenagers of the late 60’s did. Randy had his eye on this pretty girl and told a mutual friend that he wanted to meet her. Although Anita was a shy girl, she confided in her sister that she did not know which one was better looking, Randy or his ’67 red Mustang Fast-Back. After letting her take the wheel, the rest is history. Randy and Anita married in December 1970 and later had a daughter, Carrie Leigh and a son, Nicholas Lee.

Anita was a faithful servant of the Lord from a young age, having been baptized as a teenager at the First Baptist Church of Orange. As a testament to her faith, she was responsible for leading her younger sister to Christ at the age of 9. She was adamant about her children knowing Christ also, sometimes bringing them kicking and screaming all the way to the church.

Anita always had a kind and giving heart and went above and beyond to help family members and friends. She loved her family and often too on the role of peacemaker and always let her family know that they could “come home” no matter what. Indeed the nucleus of our family. Anita retired from Walmart in West Orange after 28 years of service in the accounting department. She retired in October 2016.

Anita is preceded in death by her parents; and her three siblings, Dorothy Lorene, Charlie Melvin, and Joyce Ann.

Left to cherish her memory are her husband, Randy; her daughter, Carrie; her son, Nicholas and his wife, Jennifer; her grandsons, Joshua, Charles, and Chase Johnson, all of Orange; her sisters, Sue Henry of Belleville, IL, Mary Evans of Orangefield, TX, and Cindy Smith of Orangefield, TX; her close family friend and “adopted” daughter, Rhonda Ivey of Orange, TX; and her seven nieces and nephews, as well as, several great-nieces and great-nephews.

Funeral services will be 10:00 a.m., Saturday, June 17, 2017, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange. Officiating will be Reverend Jimmy Williams. Burial will follow at Orange Forest Lawn in Irving.

Visitation will be from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange.

Serving as pallbearers will be Jarrett Hebert, Robbie Smith, Lloyd Carmack, Perry Lee, Chad Eldridge, and Sage Ward. Honorary pallbearers are Joshua Johnson, Charles Johnson, Chase Johnson, Jerrald Evans, and Eric Hebert.