July 30, 1932 — November 8, 2012

Loving mother, wife, sister, grandmother, artist, historian, and passionate guardian of the family heritage. She joined our Heavenly Father on November 8, 2012, with dignity and peace, at home and with family near, as she had deeply wished.

She is survived by her loving husband of 62 years, Howard Elmer Johnson; her sons, Dr. Laurence Franklin and wife Maria Cisneros-Solis Johnson and Howard David Johnson and his wife Virginia Johnson; and daughter, Pamela Johnson Neeley and her husband Stephen Neeley. She leaves one surviving sister, Mary Joyce Klingler, six grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

Bertie Louise Franklin was born July 30, 1932, in Gatesville, Texas, to parents Verda and Della (Bates) Franklin. She was named after her paternal grandmother, Mary Roberta “Bertie” (Cahoon) Franklin, wife of Rev. William Lafayette Franklin, but preferred to be called Louise. The Franklins had four daughters: Winnie Marie, Geraldine, Bertie Louise and Mary Joyce. In 1936, the Franklin family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas; however, they made frequent trips back to Coryell County to visit relatives.

Louise married Sgt. (USAF) Howard Elmer “Buddy” Johnson in 1950. Howard was born March 3, 1928, in Corpus Christi, Texas, to Gladys (Williams) and Elmer Franklin “Buddy” Johnson. Their growing family spent eleven years overseas on various tours, including Germany, Bermuda and Tripoli, Libya. In February 1973, Howard retired from the Air Force after 27 years of service, which included many medals and various commendations. The family moved to Round Rock, Texas (Williamson County), in 1974 where Howard began working as an investigative auditor with the Texas Attorney General’s Office. In May 1981, Louise graduated from Austin Community College with an associate of science degree in business administration, and was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Fraternity.

Louise descends from several early Texas pioneers, of whom five generations are buried in Coryell County, where she and Howard bought and renovated their ancestral family farmhouse in 1983. As a proud sixth-generation Texan and fourteenth-generation American, she was a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, William B. Travis Chapter; The Daughters of the American Revolution, Tankful Hubbard Chapter; United Daughters of the Confederacy, Albert Sidney Johnson Chapter; National Society of Colonial Dames XVII Century Embassy Chapter; and National Society of the United States Daughters of 1812, Oliver Hazard Perry Chapter.

Visitation was held on Sunday, November 11, 2012, from 6-8 p.m. at Cook-Walden Capital Parks. Funeral Services were held on Monday November 12, 2012, at 10:00 a.m. at the Cook-Walden Capital Parks Memorial Chapel. Burial services followed at Restland Cemetery in Gatesville, Texas—where she will join her many loved ones in eternal rest. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to The American Lung Association.

For those wishing to do so memorial condolences may be made at www.CookWaldenCapitalParks.com.