Alice Wittman Johnson

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Alice Wittman Johnson passed away peacefully in her sleep on the morning of Aug. 1, in Forest. She was surrounded by her daughter, Mariana Johnson Boska; her son-in-law, Robert Boska and loving caregiver, Rose Moshy.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 68 years, Raymond Johnson.

She is also survived by her son, Joe and his wife, Dawn Flores; Joe’s daughter Mira, and Dawn’s children, Maya and Miguel.

Alice was the only child of Julius Wittman and Bertha Pilz of St. Mary’s, Pennsylvania. She was a cradle Catholic attending Catholic schools until she went to Bryant and Stratton Business School in Buffalo, New York, where she met Raymond, the love of her life.

After graduating, Alice began her first secretarial job at Sylvania Electric in Emporium, Pennsylvania. She married Raymond in 1955 and in 1963 they adopted two children from Italy, Mariana and Joe. Ray’s job at Stackpole Carbon Company moved the family to Raleigh, North Carolina in 1967 where Alice worked for the Wake Co. Public Schools and to Farmville in 1974, where Alice worked as a secretary at Longwood College, first for the dean of students then for four different presidents, keeping the office and various personalities on schedule and well-informed.

Their only grandchild, Mira Johnson, daughter of Joe and Tunde Hidvegi Johnson was the apple of her eye as she and Raymond headed into their senior years.

Alice always had a marvelous sense of humor, an open heart and a willingness to try anything once. If it was fun, she’d tried it again. She loved camping, golfing, square dancing and even tried a Segway. Alice was incredibly active in the community. During her lifetime, she belonged to four bridge clubs, two garden clubs, two book clubs, a gourmet club, a stock club (she did pretty well) a Mahjong club, and a bird club. Above and beyond all of these social clubs, she and Ray delivered meals on wheels, and were very active at St. Theresa Catholic Church. Her presence made holidays especially warm, welcoming and festive in the Johnson household. Alice and Raymond lived in Farmville until 2018 when they moved to Forest to live with their daughter and son-in-law, Mariana and Robert.

May her memory be a blessing. Rose Moshy came to live with Mariana, Robert, Alice and Ray in August of 2020 to help care for Alice and Ray as their needs increased. In November of 2021, mom was admitted into the Westminster at Home Hospice program. She and the family were blessed by loving nurses especially the regulars, Skyelar, Tabitha and Jennifer along with chaplain Bill, social worker Jasmine, Dr. Lord and various therapists.

A Mass of Resurrection will be held at St. Thomas More Catholic Church, Lynchburg on Friday, Aug. 11, at noon. Visitation will be one hour prior to the Mass. In place of flowers please consider a donation in Alice’s name to St. Theresa Catholic Church, Farmville or St. Thomas More Catholic Church Haiti Ministry. Tharp Funeral Home & Crematory, Lynchburg, is assisting the family.

To send condolences, please visit tharpfuneralhome.com.