Journalist, community volunteer, former Harvard resident
Georgia Turner Johnson, 93, of Lafayette Hill Pennsylvania died peacefully on Thursday, May 2, at the Hill at Whitemarsh. Born in Philadelphia, Mrs. Johnson was the daughter of Cmdr. Allen D. and Ann D. Turner. After graduating from Concord High School in 1937, she attended Wheaton College for two years before leaving to start her career in journalism on the staff of the Boston Transcript, where she covered local stories for the daily paper. In turn, she was the society editor for the Boston Traveler, sportswear editor of Women’s Wear Daily, and document officer and assistant to the China Section Chief of the United Nations in Lake Success, N.Y.. After contracting pneumonia, she returned to Harvard, her hometown, to recuperate and accept a job as the editor of the Turner Public Spirit in Ayer.
Georgia married Warne P. Johnson of New Jersey and, in 1953, moved to Upper Montclair, N.J., where Georgia channeled her civic spirit and love of writing and research into community betterment projects with other community volunteers—the formation of Better Education for All Montclair, an organization that focused on the benefits of neighborhood schools; creation of PAWs, a progressive animal shelter and adoption facility; and establishment of Ecology Watch Montclair to halt aerial spraying after a gypsy moth infestation.
As a result of their efforts to halt the aerial spraying and to educate town leaders and the public about the benefits of integrated pest management, Mrs. Johnson and her organization were cited by New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean for their groundbreaking work.
Georgia’s daughter, Anne Anspach of Pennsylvania, said about her mother, “She believed that we should all leave this world a little better than we found it, and my mother did just that.”
Georgia is survived by her husband, her daughter, and her son, Michael Johnson of Pasco, Wa., as well as five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. There will be a memorial service for family and friends in Harvard on August 10.
