Arlene Marie Turner Johnston

Arlene Marie Turner Johnston was born on April 23, 1922, in Livingston Manor, New York, and died in Jacksonville, Florida on January 19, after a long illness. She spent her childhood in New York, graduating from high school and earning her RN from Albany Hospital before marrying and starting on a journey as a Navy wife and mother which would take her to Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, Oklahoma, Tennessee and back again to Florida. She retired from BC/BS, where she worked on the first ever Medicare claims, rising to Manager of the Medical Department. She is survived by her three children: Jerrie Tomlinson, Jackie Jones and Jim Johnston; six grandchildren: Kelly Tomlinson, Amity Jones, Adam Jones, Ron Jones, Bryan Davis, Priscilla Johnston; and four great grandchildren: Kayla Davis, Bryanna Davis, Sophia Davis, and Evelyn Jones, most of whom were frequent recipients of her signature cakes and pies, her cole slaw and baked beans, her homemade candies and biscuits.
Her New York family includes her sister Shirley Dufton and her three nieces: Judy Palmer, Donna Van de Bogart and Mary Ann Halstead and a host of great nieces and nephews, including a close one in Jacksonville, Adam Halstead.
For most of her life she was a member of the Methodist Church, singing in the choir, managing church night suppers and directing special programs. In more recent years, she attended Edgewood Avenue Christian Church, starting in the choir and graduating to the pews as a faithful and appreciative listener. As “Star” she became a Gator Clown, and joined the Southeastern Clown Association, holding local and state offices in both those organizations, remaining a member for more than 27 years and being awarded the Bobby Williams Award for excellence in clowning. Additionally, she was a performer/organizer of the Corn Cob Clan, a comedy and entertainment group of retired women, and performed with Star Ann Son, entertaining at nursing homes, and for churches and community groups. She loved music, played the piano by ear and had the lyrics of hundreds of songs in her head.
She sacrificed plenty raising three children nearly single handedly, making sure all had a good moral foundation, and encouraging them to always better themselves. Even when there wasn’t much money, she taught the importance of using something up or wearing it out. She helped with school projects, including one Christmas when she made an angel costume for a program. She had used an old bedsheet and when the arms were outstretched, the wings read U.S. Navy. She didn’t drive, so she walked to get groceries and walked to get to performances or school meetings. Her Easter baskets were a work of art, made from shoe and soap boxes and covered with crepe paper.
She was a doer-- quick to volunteer to make decorations for banquet tables, making rice bags and candy mints for weddings, filling stockings for the Salvation Army, holding annual Christmas parties for foreign born students, writing weekly letters to her New York family and occasionally posting on Facebook. She helped to create a family cookbook and history. She cooked and baked, sewed and traveled. She loved old family pictures and kept scrapbooks of events and experiences that chronicled the lives of her family.A memorial service will be held January 23 at 7 pm. at Edgewood Avenue Christian Church, 1041 Edgewood Avenue. In lieu of flowers, the family as asked that a donation be made to Community Hospice of Northeast Florida in her name.