Jennie Lee Johnson passed away peacefully at Sidney Health Center on Thursday, March 12, 2020, at the age of 88. Jennie Lee was born in Sidney, MT, to Herbert and Della (Howard) Lightner on September 25, 1931. She was the youngest of ten children. She met the love of her life, Dallas Johnson, and they were married on November 14, 1948, on Dallas’ 21st birthday. Their son Lee Michael was born in 1951, and daughter Pamela Jean arrived in 1954.
A lover of collections, Jennie Lee fancied teapots, birdhouses, coffee mugs, books of all kinds (read and remembered), and a menagerie (a collection of wild animals kept in captivity for exhibition) of giraffes. She was an accomplished seamstress, and her sewing machine stitched away day and night. Impossible deadlines for cheerleading uniforms, prom dresses, bridesmaid’s dresses, and alterations were accomplished in her home. Her friends’ and families’ homes were adorned with her crocheting and Norwegian hardanger projects. If you were lucky, you may have been invited to share in her Saturday night caramel rolls! And her driving skills were a force to be wreckened with.
Jennie Lee was a devout Christian, and as a young teenager she dreamed of becoming a missionary. God fulfilled this desire in a unique way. She served as the Missionary President at the Nazarene Church for 25 years. In the Nazarene Church’s 75th year, they sent missionaries to 75 countries. That year she and her friends, Doris DeTienne and Irene Larson, designed and sewed full sized flags for each of these nations. Their hard work was displayed at the Church’s district convention.
Jennie Lee is survived by her daughter Pam Lewis of Minot, ND; daughter-in-law Toots (Dennis) McCollough of Billings, MT; four grandchildren David (Sarah Meyer) Lewis of Minot, ND; Stephen (Jessica) Lewis of Holly Ridge, NC; Michael Johnson of Sidney, MT, and Melissa (Andrew) Shiffer of Sidney, MT; four great grandchildren Abigail, Elizabeth, Calli and Owen, and numerous nieces and nephews.
Jennie Lee is preceded in death by her parents, husband, son Mike, and all her siblings: sisters Nora, Hazel, Mae, Isola "Toadie", Natalie and brothers Charles (Bud), Gale, Oral, and Herbert.