Janet Foster Johnson

Janet Foster Johnson, 86, passed away suddenly but peacefully on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Janet was born at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia on February 6, 1932. She was a lifelong resident of Decatur and Atlanta, except for the time she spent away at college. Janet graduated from Decatur Girls High School and then earned her B. A. in Journalism from the University of Georgia’s Henry W. Grady School of Journalism in 1953. She was a longtime member of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta. She much loved her children and grandchildren, and she enjoyed more than anything just being with them. She insisted that her family be well-educated. Her life’s work was seeing her children’s learning to fruition. She worked in advertising and as a copywriter, but her love of education led her to the DeKalb County School System, working first for many years as a reading paraprofessional, and later as a school health officer. Her last job was as a tutor in the writing lab at Georgia Perimeter College, which she continued well into her 84th year. Janet was preceded in death by her parents Andrew N. Foster and Isabella Landfear Foster, and her husband of 48 years, William James (“Bill”) Johnson III. She is survived by her three children: her son Daniel Johnson and his wife Julia of Dothan, AL; her daughter Averill Jones and her husband Mark of Decatur, GA; and her son Edward Johnson and his wife Tracey of Sandy Springs, GA; her brother Andrew (“Andy”) Foster of Charleston, SC, and her sister Jane Foster Matthews of Ripley, MS; her grandchildren Elizabeth Jones, Caroline Jones, Sumner Jones, Ellen Johnson, Collier Johnson, Patrick Johnson and Andrew (“Andy”) Johnson; her great grandson Emile Freire-Jones; and many nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Crossroads Community Ministries or the University of Georgia. Funeral services will be held at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Atlanta at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 1, 2018. She will be buried immediately thereafter at the Decatur Cemetery.