Community business leader and advocate for children and volunteering Judith “Judy” Johnson passed away Monday, Oct. 7.

She was 79. A native of Duncan, she met Mike Johnson while attending Oklahoma State University.

The couple married in late 1966, opened a tropical fish store together in Oklahoma City, then a CPA firm in Edmond before moving to Kingfisher in 1981 to join the family’s car dealership, Johnsons of Kingfisher.

Mike Johnson became the general manager and Judy the controller.

While at Oklahoma State, Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and was also a systems analyst for Kerr-McGee Corp. before joining her husband’s CPA firm.

It was in Kingfisher that Johnson began to cement her legacy of service, both on a local and statewide scale.

She became active in the Kingfisher Chamber of Commerce, Ohoyahoma Club, Wheatbelt Toastmasters Club, Kingfisher Rotary and she served on the board of Red Cross of Central Oklahoma.

She was a founding member and served in every office of Kingfisher County Republican Women and was a chairman of the Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church Advisory Council.

She is a graduate of Leadership Kingfisher County Class I and Leadership Oklahoma Class XVII and served on the board of directors for Leadership Oklahoma.

Johnson served as a trustee of the Oklahoma State University Foundation and was on the OSU Alumni Association Executive Board.

The Johnsons were ardent supporters of OSU, whether as fans in the stands of major sporting events, or contribut- ing to the university through other means.

They eventually endowed four scholarships at OSU: Judith Freeman Johnson Professorship in Accounting Fund, Michael D. and Judith A. Johnson President’s Distinguished Scholarship, Michael D. and Judith A. Johnson Scholarship in Accounting and the Mike and Judy Johnson Endowed Football Scholarship.

In 2018, the couple was inducted into the OSU Spears Business Hall of Fame.

That was one of several honors bestowed upon Judy.

The Center of Family Love honored the couple with the Harold J. Wittrock Humanitarian Award in 2023.

The Journal Record - a business, government and legal news publication -named Johnson to its “50 Making a Difference” list three separate times and nominated her for Journal Record Woman of the Year. For a number of years, Johnson volunteered her time to the Youth & Family Services of Canadian, Kingfi sher and Blaine counties.

A non-profit charitable organization, YFS worked to meet community needs for emergency shelter for children removed from their homes.

She served on the organization’s board for several years.

In a profile in the Journal Record when nominated for the Woman of the Year in 2006, Johnson said: “I have a passion for children and their safety from abuse and drugs. When my children were young, I worked with just about every association that had anything to do with youth.. Now that my children are grown, I am involved in other ways.

“The organization that I am most passionate about is Youth & Family Services of Canadian, Kingfisher and Blaine counties. We are the only emergency shelter for the three counties and we are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

“It is my hope to leave a legacy of volunteering for my children and grandchildren and that the world would be a better place for their generation.”

Judy Johnson was preceded in death by her husband in 2022 and their daughter, Lori Johnson, in 2018.

Among family members surviving her are sons David Johnson and Rob Johnson, their spouses and numerous grandchildren.

(Ed. note: A full obituary, including service information, can be found on Page 10 of this edition.)