Judith Clayton Johnson

Starting in Frewsburg schools, she spent the bulk of her 30-year career in Jamestown Public Schools, mostly at Washington Junior High School with a few years at Jefferson Middle School and Jamestown High School as the orchestra conductor, helping to rebuild the program.

Judy spent a lifetime breaking barriers. As a young divorcee and single mom of three young children, she completed her master’s degree and had a house built, in a time when women could not get loans or credit cards in their own names or play full court basketball in high school.

She was a lifelong entertainer and educator. In her youth, she played piano and organ for church and ballet classes (while reading a book because she could do both simultaneously). With her father on drums, Judy played dance music on the organ and sang lead vocals at venues locally, including on a steamboat on Chautauqua Lake and at the Vikings Club, where she met the love of her life, Curt Johnson, whom she married on December 5, 1969.

Throughout her life Judy was heavily involved in community musical performances, activities, and productions. In the Jamestown area she conducted the Moose Band, the Vikings Male Chorus, and participated in Little Theater as an actress, music director and accompanist, and later in life sang in the Chautauqua Community Choir. An accomplished pianist, she accompanied hundreds of student instrumental and vocal soloists, including many college student recitals.

During their retirement, Judy and Curt spent summers at their home on Chautauqua Lake in Bemus Point and winters at the Islander RV Resort in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. For 30 years Judy directed the choir and played piano for the Islander RV Resort Church. During their time there, Judy and Curt were at the heart of their retirement community, with Judy directing an annual Variety Show and Curt performing enthusiastically. She made her friends’ lives more fun and richer through all the shows, skits and performances.

After Curt’s death in 2005, Judy and her sister JoAnn traveled the world, frequently stopping to visit family members all over the country. The two adorable little old ladies entertained anyone within earshot with their comical and occasionally irreverent repartee.

Most central to Judy’s life was a ferocious and unconditional love for her family. She created a tradition of annual family vacations, starting when her kids were in diapers. As family matriarch she orchestrated beach vacations in the Carolinas with her siblings and families for over 30 years, bringing people together from across the country.

At her core, she was a teacher of young and old alike, for her children, students, colleagues and friends, always serving as an example, mentor, advisor, and leader. She selflessly propelled and supported the people in her life to develop their gifts, talents, and possibilities. She made a profound impact on her students. Any time her photo was included in family posts on social media, her kids were surprised by the number of comments from former students recalling the impact she had on their lives. She inspired many.

In addition to her musical gifts, Judy was a talented artist with particular skill in drawing and crafting. Her home was her canvas where she created a colorful, engaging environment, part art gallery and part family gallery.

She had a wicked sense of humor, bawdy at times, and loved to laugh at herself and with others. She was bubbly and effervescent, maintaining a consistent and authentic positive attitude with a knack for saying the right thing in every situation (but also entertained with the occasional, hilarious foot-in-the-mouth moment). She was small in stature, but large and mighty in personality. When face to face, friends might remark “you are shorter than I realized” because her personality was so big.

Judy was preceded in death by her husband Curt, sons Steven A. and Duane C. Johnson, parents Joe and Lorene Clayton, sister JoAnn Minner and brother Joseph (“Curt”) Clayton.

She leaves behind children Dana (Dorothy) Johnson, Sam (Donna) Johnson, Steve (Ann) Johnson, and Christine De Rosa; step-children Patricia Johnson, Pamela (Don) Delong, and Donna Culwell; grandchildren Derek and Darin Milleville, Ryan and Nick Johnson, Colin Johnson, Lauren Merta, Aron Johnson, Carra Baker, Brooklynn Clark, and Abby De Rosa; several step-grandchildren and great-grandchildren; sister-in-law Frances Clayton, daughter-in-law Judy Johnson, beloved niece Teri and husband Kevin Greene, and many adored nieces and nephews.

The family will receive friends from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26th in the Lind Funeral Home. A memorial service will be held this summer on a date to be announced by the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Wounded Warrior Project, the Chautauqua Foundation at Chautauqua Institution, or the Roger Tory Peterson Institute.

To share a memory or condolence, please visit www.lindfuneralhome.com.