Daisy Vaughan Johnson

Daisy Vaughan Johnson, 89, passed away at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 11, 2009, at Wellmont Hospice House, Bristol, Tennessee. She was the daughter of the late Kenneth Coeburn Vaughan and June Booher Vaughan of the Rock Hill Community of Sullivan County. Her ancestry dates back to the First Families of Tennessee, who participated in the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War as well. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Russell Johnson, sister Wyona Cole, and nephew Eddie Cole.

Mrs. Johnson graduated from Bluff City High School, where she was on the basketball team. She then received a two-year teaching degree from Milligan College. Later in her life, at the age of 74, she finished her bachelor's degree in English at King College.

She spent her working life as a secretary for Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tennessee; seven years in the Congressional offices in Washington, D.C., of Representative Dayton Phillips and others; and at Virginia Intermont College with the horsemanship program.

Mrs. Johnson belonged to the First Baptist Church in Bristol, Virginia, where she was a member of the Hannah Sunday School Class. She was also coordinator of the Bristol Food Pantry for a number of years.

A few of her hobbies included participating in road races in the 50-and-over age category, collecting china, and most of all growing beautiful flowers.

Survivors include a daughter, Elizabeth Johnson Helton, and son-in-law, Mark Helton, of Elizabethton, Tennessee; a son, Edward Johnson, and a daughter-in-law, Lillian Johnson, of Orange County, California; and a son, Thomas Russell Johnson, Jr., of Meadowview, Virginia. She is also survived by her sister-in-law, Annette Lowder, and one nephew and two nieces.

The family extends a special thank you to the kind and skilled nurses at the Bristol Regional Medical Center and the Wellmont Hospice House.