HOPE — A retired educator who was one of the most honored and respected women in Bartholomew County has died.
Barbara Thayer Johnson of Hope had battled health problems over the last four years. Her death on Tuesday came less than two weeks prior to what would have been her 72nd birthday.
Family members say the wife of Hope Town Council member Ed Johnson suffered a stroke and did not regain consciousness after undergoing emergency surgery. She was pronounced dead Tuesday at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis.
As part of her decades of work with the Yellow Trail Museum, Barbara Johnson was a driving force behind such annual events as Hope’s “Old Fashioned Independence Day” and “Christmas of Yesteryear.” But many Hope residents know her impact extended much further than that.
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In fact, many organizations turned to Johnson for her organizing expertise, as well as her extensive list of vendors and volunteers, museum board member Jessica Deckard Brown said.
She was also one of the key people within the Yellow Trail Museum who volunteered her time to research and chronicle the lives of both past and present Hope residents, Brown said.
Always a standout
Although Barbara Johnson was one grade ahead of Hope resident Chuck Baker, both were members of the Honor Society and Student Council at Hauser High School, he said.
“She has been one of my heroes since high school,” said Baker, who said he’ll always remember her as a “patient and quiet spirit.”
While some classmates may have bemoaned living in a small town, Barbara Johnson was always proud of being a Hope native.
“For years, when asked where they live, I’ve heard both adults and children respond: “Oh, I just live in Hope,” she said during an interview in 2016. “It’s time to get rid of the ‘just.’ You have to be proud.”
After graduating as valedictorian of the Hauser High School Class of 1966, the daughter of Tom and Mary Thayer went on to earn her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in elementary education from Ball State University.
Following college, she immediately returned to her hometown and began her teaching career in 1972.
“While we knew she was special in high school, nobody understood what a marvelous and extraordinary teacher she would become,” Baker said.
A life well led
During her 31-year career as an educator, the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. honored Barbara Johnson twice as its Teacher of the Year.
In 1995, she was named the year’s best educator in Bartholomew County when she received the Edna V. Folger Outstanding Teacher Award from the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce.
“The way to teach children is to be enthusiastic about everything you are doing — and do the best you can every day,” she once said.
During an interview shortly before his death, former Flat Rock-Hawcreek superintendent Dr. Glen Keller (1933-2017) was asked what he believed made Barbara Johnson special.
“If you needed something done, you said, ‘Barb, let’s do it.’ And it got done,” Keller said in 2016. “She never quits. You always need her on your team.”
Barbara Johnson once told her sister, Susan Thayer Fye, that some of the most significant things she did with her life were things she didn’t want to do.
If she knew the task was going to be difficult and time-consuming, Barbara Johnson did it anyway — and was grateful for conquering the challenge when the work was completed, her sister said.
The state of Indiana honored Barbara Johnson in 1992 when former Indiana Gov. Evan Bayh made her a Sagamore of the Wabash. That was the same year she played a key role in the move, renovation and staffing of the historic one-room Simmons School to Hope.
While the state award reflected that effort, Thayer Fye said it also recognized Barbara Johnson’s extraordinary teaching skills and leadership in other areas, such as being the long-time board president and volunteer director of the Yellow Trail Museum.
Honors received over the past decade include being named Hope Heritage Days grand marshal in 2011, being selected as The Republic’s Woman of the Year in 2016, and becoming the recipient of the 2018 Hubert Hawkins Local History Award from the Indiana Historical Society. That honor recognizes a Hoosier for impacting a generation with his or her passion for history.
‘It leaves a crater’
Any attempt to list all of Barbara Johnson’ accomplishments would be futile because she has done countless things for individuals and her community that have never been recognized, Thayer Fye said. She would also never want such a list because she was always uncomfortable being praised in public, her sister said.
“But still, her death doesn’t just leave a hole,” Thayer Fye said. “It leaves a crater.”
While Johnson tried to pass on her knowledge to others after serious health issues first became evident, “it will still take a lot of people to fill her shoes,” Brown said.
Baker summed up the same sentiment this way.
“This loss will force many of us in Hope to have to step up, but her position within our community can never be filled,” Baker said. “There is simply nobody like her.”
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The public is invited to a celebration of the life of Barbara Johnson.
It will be held in an open house format Friday, from 2 to 6 p.m., in the Hauser Jr.-Sr. High gymnasium.
Those with photos and memorabilia that reflect on Johnson’s life are encouraged to bring it to share with family and friends.
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