Birth Date: 01/16/1928
Deceased Date: 06/18/2019
Janie Rebecca Tart Johnson, 91, of Raleigh Road, Benson, died after a short struggle with cancer on June 18, 2019 in SECU Hospice House, Smithfield, North Carolina. Funeral services will be on Saturday, June 22, at 11:00 a.m. at Rose and Graham Funeral Home in Benson. Officiating will be Rev. Jessie Brock. Burial will follow in the Roselawn Cemetery.
Janie was born to the late James Brainard (Doc) Tart and Neva Godwin Tart on January 16, 1928, in Harnett County, North Carolina, one of ten children. She graduated from Dunn High School in 1944 and worked at various retail establishments in Dunn and Benson for several years until she met Cameron Wilson Johnson who was to be her lifelong loving companion. They were married in 1949 and moved to the country near his family’s homeplace between Benson and Four Oaks. Janie lived with Cameron on the corner across from his country store for the rest of her life. In 1951 she and Cameron were blessed with a daughter, Phyllis. Janie was a stay-at-home mom until her daughter Phyllis graduated from high school, and then she went to work as a claims examiner for the State Employment Security Commission, from which she retired in 1991. For more than seventy years, she was a member of Burnell Baptist Church, and took an active role in many programs including Sunday School and the Girls Auxiliary. She and Cameron worked countless hours in their yard and were most proud of their azaleas and prolific flower garden. After caring for her husband at home in his last years, she became more active in various organizations like the Widowed Persons Association and the Burnell Sunshine Club. She also enjoyed several traveling adventures with her daughter and son-in-law, including to Costa Rica and Oahu, and to the Big Island of Hawaii for her 90th birthday.
She is survived by her daughter, Phyllis and her son-in-law, Craig Tillery of Anchorage, Alaska; her grandson, David Tillery of New York City; sister, Anne (Tart) Joyner and her brother-in-law, Tom Joyner of Cary; brother, Corbett Tart of Dunn; numerous nieces, nephews, grand and great-grand nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Cameron Johnson; her parents; her brothers, Oliver, Earl, Pat, John, and Joseph Tart; and her sisters, Araminta (Tart) Johnson and Mae (Tart) Wheeler.
Family will receive friends from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, June 21, at the Rose and Graham Funeral Home in Benson, as well as other times at the home at 12111 Raleigh Road, Benson.
Miss Janie loved flowers, and they are welcome at the funeral. In the alternative, memorial donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Burnell Baptist Church, Building Fund, 3720 Old School Road, Four Oaks, NC 27524; or to Johnston Health Foundation, Hospice Fund, P.O. Box 1376, Smithfield, NC 27577.
Arrangements by Rose & Graham Funeral Home, Benson.
Online condolences may be sent to roseandgraham.com.
