Edna Kathryn "Kay" (Ivy) Johnson

Edna Kathryn “Kay” Johnson, 86, of Hillsboro, IL passed away on Sunday, May 31, 2015, at 4:26 a.m. at Montgomery Nursing & Rehab Center, Taylor Springs, IL. Visitation will be held on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Bass Patton Dean Funeral Home, Hillsboro, IL. Memorial service will be held on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, at 7:00 p.m. at Bass Patton Dean Funeral Home, Hillsboro, IL. Rev. Jeff Hemken, Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Hillsboro, IL will officiate. Private family burial will take place at a later date in Oak Grove Cemetery, Hillsboro, IL.

Edna Kathryn “Kay” (Ivy) Johnson was born in Hillsboro to Torney Preston and Bertha E. (Windels) Ivy on September 27, 1928. Her family left Hillsboro when she was young, her father being an auditor for Peabody Coal Co. They lived in Oklahoma; Sullivan, Indiana; and Chicago. Kay’s last two (2) years of high school were in Chicago where she was graduated from Roger Sullivan High School in 1946. She worked for Pepsodent while living in Chicago, traveled by ship to Denmark, where her sister lived at the time, and later attended nurses training at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO.

Upon her return to the family home in Hillsboro, she met the love of her life, Ernest Everett “Tiny” Johnson. Their first date was going to the Firemen’s Ball in February, 1951, and they became married on September 28, 1952. The couple returned home from their honeymoon to a newly built home on the lot which had been the Johnson family garden area. The couple had two (2) children, Robert Ernest, who passed on May 20, 1996, and Janine Kay (Johnson) Sherer.

Kay, as everyone knew her, was not Edna; Edna was her aunt. She worked at Montgomery County National Bank and later became employed with the State of Illinois where she retired. She was a past member of Hillsboro Women’s Club and the American Legion Auxiliary. She enjoyed exercising with the Grand Advantage Group at Fusion at Hillsboro Hospital. She was a member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and a lifetime member of Weight Watchers. She traveled extensively with her sister, Lyn, until her death in 1995. Her attention was then devoted to her three great granddaughters. She loved being with them, waiting on them hand and foot while they visited at her house or spent the night just to get up to make pancakes for breakfast. Kay’s most recent interests were knitting scarves, shopping (window or from her closet), watching all seasons of Dancing with the Stars and Turner Classic Movies.

Kay is survived by her daughter, Janine Sherer, of Hillsboro, IL; two grandsons, Chris (wife Melanie) Sherer, Hillsboro, IL and Matt Sherer, Coffeen, IL; and three great granddaughters, Hannah, Chloe and Mia Sherer of Hillsboro, IL.

She was preceded in death by her husband in 1974, father in 1975, mother in 1984, sister in 1995 and son in 1996.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Hillsboro Volunteer Fire Department, Memorial Home Services Hospice Program or St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Youth Group.

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