Johnston, Alice Maurine (Carris) 1922-2004

JOHNSTON, CARRIS, RUPLINGER, YEAGER, SWARTZ

Posted By: Debbie Nash (email)
Date: 11/9/2004 at 15:12:44

Alice Maurine Carris Johnston
November 09, 2004

Alice Maurine Carris Johnston, 82, of rural Keosauqua died Monday, Nov. 8, 2004, at home.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with the Rev. Kurt Makower officiating. Burial will be in Lebanon Cemetery west of Keosauqua.

Visitation will open at 2 p.m. Thursday at the new Pedrick Funeral Home on Highway 1 north of Keosauqua, with family present from 7-8 p.m. The family also will receive friends from 10-11 a.m. Friday prior to the funeral at the church

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to Bentonsport Historical Rose Garden, First Christian Church or Keosauqua Public Library.

Mrs. Johnston was born Jan. 26, 1922, in Keota, the daughter of Warren W. and Mildred C. Ruplinger Carris. She married Clark H. Johnston in 1941. He later died.

After graduating from Keota High School, she earned a teaching certificate from Parsons College and taught in a rural Washington County school for one year. She and her husband farmed near Packwood for 15 years. During that time, she was active in Packwood Christian Church and Farm Bureau and served as a 4-H leader and president of the parent-teacher association.

After returning to Parsons College to complete a bachelor's degree in elementary education, she taught school in Martinsburg for two years, in Ollie for one year and, after 1964, in Fairfield. She later received a master's degree in elementary education with an emphasis on reading from the University of Iowa. She retired in 1985 after teaching 26 years in Fairfield Community School District.

Mrs. Johnston was a member of the Fairfield Community Education Association and served as its president from 1972-73. In 1973, she was nominated for the Iowa Teacher of the Year by school administrators, fellow teachers and former students. She was a member of Iowa State Education Association and National Education Association. In July, 1976, she was one of 120 women in the United States to be honored by the National Education Association in its Bicentennial Tribute to Women in Education. She also was a member of the International Reading Association. She served as an officer in the Jefferson/Van Buren Council of the Iowa Reading Association and was named Reading Teacher of the Year by the council in 1981.

During her residence of Fairfield from 1964, she was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, American Association of University Women, Phi Kappa Phi Honorary Society, a past president of Business and Professional Women and a member of First Christian Church.

In 1988, she moved with her husband to Van Buren County near Keosauqua, where she participated in Friends of Lacey and Bentonsport Improvement Association. She also served as coordinator of Bentonsport Historical Rose Garden, president of Retired School Personnel of Van Buren County and member and president of Town and Country Garden Club of Keosauqua.

Survivors include three children, Judith Yeager and husband James of Keosauqua, Michael Johnston and wife Elizabeth of Keosauqua and Steven Johnston and wife Kasondra of Falls Church, Va.; seven grandchildren; one sister, Dorothy Swartz of Cedar Rapids; and one brother, Robert Carris of Keota.

In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents.

Courtesy of the Fairfield Daily Ledger Inc. 2004