Posted: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 12:00 am
Feb. 17, 1940 - Aug. 7, 2008
Katherine Jane Johnston, 68, of Blackwell, Okla., formerly of Corvallis, died Aug. 7, from surgical complications at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City. She was known as Jane to her friends.
She was born Feb. 17, 1940, in Blackwell to Hal and Rena Sommers Wilkins. She graduated from Blackwell High School in 1958 and graduated from St. Anthony Hospital as a registered nurse in 1961.
She married Glen Johnston on Dec. 27, 1961, in Edmond, Okla. They lived in various places until her husband retired from the Navy in 1973. Then they bought a farm in Bellfountain and later divorced.
Jane worked as a nurse in the emergency room and then the recovery room of Good Samaritan Hospital in Corvallis from 1973 until she retired in 2005.
Jane was a self-taught seamstress, tailor, knitter, brewer, winemaker, cheesemaker, farmer, baker and cook. Above all she was a master quilter who designed, constructed, sold and gave away hundreds of her beautiful creations. They remain as her legacy.
After her retirement she returned to Blackwell and enjoyed traveling, piddling around and especially reconnecting with dear and cherished friends from her youth.
She had excellent grammar and diction. She enjoyed opera almost as much as she enjoyed football. She was a longtime fan of the Oregon State Beavers.
Survivors include her daughters, Laura Johnston (Frank Graham) of North Platte, Neb., and Elinor Johnston of Beverly Hills, Calif.; in-laws Dorothy Johnston of Temple, Texas, James and Carolyn Johnston of Portland, Joe Johnston of Dodge City, Kan., and Rosemary and Horace Gray of Houston, Texas; various cousins, nieces and nephews; and her special friends Bernice Gessel, Barbara Rutherford, Roberta King and Dave Stults.
She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Harold.
Her body was cremated. An informal memorial was Sunday, Aug. 10.