Frances Johnson

Frances R. Johnson, age 98, passed away on Sunday, August 10, 2025 at Oakwood University Woods. She was born on October 27, 1926 in Gillespie, Illinois, the only child of Frank Rice and Emily Bess Rice (nee Kirkwood). After high school graduation in Gillespie, Frances graduated from Blackburn College with an Associate degree in 1946 and from Washington University in St. Louis with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in 1949. She was a nurse at the St. Louis Children’s Hospital until 1952 when she joined the United States Air Force as a nurse. After being first stationed in Alabama, she moved to Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane Washington where she met and married John E. Johnson in 1953. After time in Redwood City, California, Hamilton, Ohio, Detroit Michigan, West Lafayette, Indiana, and Midland, Michigan, she moved to Madison in 1965 and has been here since.

Nursing was a calling for Frances and she was gifted with the knowledge and compassion to do this important work. Her notable career stops included being an intensive care nurse in West Lafayette, Indiana, and as a nurse and nursing supervisor from 1975 to 1992 at Oakwood Nursing Home (now Oakwood University Woods). One of her late-life celebrations was as a ribbon cutter for the Hebron Facility opening at Oakwood in 2023.

As good a nurse as Frances was, she was an even better Mom, Grandma, and Great Grandma. She is survived by her children, Ralph (Nancy) of Madison, Steve (Jennifer) of Perry, Georgia, Ann Gardiner (Steve) of Asheville, North Carolina, and Eric (Maria del Pilar, “Pilar”) of Charlotte, North Carolina; her grandchildren, Julie MacCurtain of Boston, Sarah Gorham of Cary, North Carolina, Janna Almada of Perry, Georgia, Daniel Gardiner of Chicago, and Nikki Johnson of Chicago; great grandchildren Ben, Roy, Sean, Naomi and Ruby.

One of her greatest gifts was making true friends, and she had many. She outlived many of them from living her long life and treasured those who remained. She traveled all over the world and became an inspiration on how to live a retirement life that included biking, canoeing, birding, and eco adventures well into her 80s.

Frances was buried at the Natural Path Sanctuary in Verona and there will be a celebration of life on October 25 at the Oakwood University Woods Chapel, 6205 Mineral Point Road, at 2:00 pm, with a gathering of family and friends afterward in the University Woods Nakoma-Westmorland room.   Memorials and donations can be made to Agrace (https://www.agrace.org/donate/), Oakwood Foundation (https://www.oakwoodvillage.net/oakwood-foundation), or the First Unitarian Society (https://fusmadison.org/stewardship/).

Special thanks to Agrace Hospice and Oakwood staff for their compassionate care.

Cress Funeral & Cremation Services

608-238-3434