Father: John Andrew Johnson
Mother: Delilah Russell

Spouse: James Homer Evans
  m: 25/Jan/1915 - Stanberry, Gentry Co., MO

Child-1: Glenn Vernon
          2: Russell Johnson
          3: Harold - b/d: 19/Jul/1919 - Cooper Twp., Gentry Co., MO - bur: High Ridge Cem., Stanberry
          4: Robert Kenneth
          5: Margie Maryann

Biographical Details:

Angie Grace Johnson was born in January of 1890, at the farm home of her parents, John A. and Delilah Russell Johnson, located just within Cooper Township about four miles southwest of Stanberry and two miles north of Island City.  Her given name was simply "Angie" and she was the oldest of four children.  According to the population schedule of the 1900 US Census for Gentry County, Missouri, the family remained resident at this location until after 1900, which implies that Angie attended one room, country school as was the custom of the time.  Moreover, according to her son, Russell, she first attended the Star school, which was located about two miles north of  her parents house.  However, about 1898 the Crosswhite country school was organized and a building constructed only a half mile west of her home.  She then enrolled in this school.  Angie did not relate many details of her childhood to later family members, perhaps, because they were such common experience among those living in that time and place that she considered them as wholly unremarkable.  Nevertheless, it is certain that John and Delilah Johnson and their children were active members of the surrounding rural community and particularly of the Island City Christian Church, which is still in existence.  Sometime between 1900 and 1910, the Johnson family moved to a farm of about one hundred and twenty acres located at the eastern edge of the town of Stanberry.  (This farm was sold to the city of Stanberry in the 1950's and subsequently developed into a public park, athletic stadium, and golf course.)  The reason for this move is uncertain, although it may likely have been so that their children could attend high school in the town.  If this is so, it would imply that they probably moved about 1904 or 1905.  The house stood near the southeast corner of the "Southeast quarter of the Southwest quarter of Section Thirty-two in Township Sixty-three of Range Thirty-two" but has since been demolished.  Angie did not complete high school in Stanberry, but transferred to the Missouri Fifth District Normal School at Maryville where she earned a teaching certificate about 1910.¹  It seems that in later life she remembered her time in college with considerable nostalgia and related several associated anecdotes to her grandchildren.  For example, the college chemistry laboratory with its odd paraphernalia and bad smells appears to have made a strong impression on her, perhaps, because it seemed so new and strange.  In this regard, Angie told how she and a fellow student (who was presumably her laboratory partner) once borrowed a dime for use in an assigned chemistry experiment.  Naturally, they expected to return the dime after the experiment had been completed; however, much to their shock and dismay, when they immersed the silver coin in one particular chemical solution, it rapidly dissolved in a mass of bubbles with the evolution of a pungent gas.  Consequently, they were forced to return two nickels to the original lender along with an abject explanation of the fate of the dime.  On another occasion, an experiment called for the use of hydrogen sulfide gas, which has the overpowering odor of rotten eggs.  It seems that at some point, Angie and her laboratory partner got the idea to put the gas making apparatus out in the hall as a practical joke.  Moreover, at this time, many if not all classes were held in the same building, therefore, the rotten egg odor quickly permeated the entire school and  induced the slamming of classroom doors and unfavorable comments as to the competence of chemistry students in particular and the usefulness of chemical science in general.  Clearly, even in the early 1900's, as at present, college life involved practical jokes as well as other rites of passage, which are still characteristic of  the lives of young adults.  Subsequently, before her marriage, Angie taught for one year in the elementary grades of the Stanberry Public School.

James Homer Evans and Angie Grace Johnson were married on January 25, 1915.  They settled on the Johnson family farm, living in the house in which she was born, where their oldest son, Glenn Vernon, was also born the following November.  The birth of a second son, Russell, followed in 1918.  Sadly, their third son, Harold, was stillborn in 1919.  Family members have always believed that this was caused primarily by medical incompetence and, perhaps, even malpractice, which also put Angie's life at risk and, thus, could have easily been even more tragic.  Homer and Angie's fourth son, Robert Kenneth, was born in 1922 followed by a daughter, Margie Maryann, in 1929.  Of course, the period of the Great Depression was one of economic difficulty and hardship.  Nevertheless, the Evans family remained a close-knit and happy one.  However, in the spring of 1942 and, again, in the fall of 1949 Angie became seriously ill and required hospitalization.  Moreover, in the second instance, although a definite diagnosis was not forthcoming, it was thought probable that she was suffering from some kind of terminal malignancy.  Nevertheless, neither Angie nor Homer were reconciled to this situation and so they sought further medical assistance from the world famous Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  There, an exploratory surgery was performed, which revealed a blockage of the small intestine.  Furthermore, it was determined that the blockage was benign and once removed; Angie was restored to a robust health, which continued until the very end of her life.  For later generations, this was a most fortunate outcome.  Indeed, her children and grandchildren, as well as many others, can remember vividly, even yet, the warmth and cheer of her home, the gentle laughter, the aroma of her special dishes, not just on holidays, but every day of the year.  Some of Angie's special dishes were apple salad, banana cupcakes, sour cream cookies, and a kind of oven baked chicken that still defies an adequate description.  In earlier years, as with any farm wife, she churned her own butter, made cottage cheese, preserved and pickled many different kinds of garden fruits and vegetables, etc.  Of course, holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, were special family occasions on which the dining table would be loaded down with several platters, each containing a different kind of meat, as well as numerous vegetable dishes among other things, to the point that it was difficult to find sufficient room for the place settings.  Naturally, this feast was followed by an equally grand selection of desserts.  Angie was an indulgent and forgiving grandmother who had nearly unlimited patience with the behavior of her small (and not so small) grandchildren.  She was ever ready to listen to their prattle, play their games, inspect their creations, and in all ways convince them that they were appropriate centers of attention for the adult world.  It was not her way to complain or to criticize.  After the death of her husband in August of 1971, Angie moved from the house in which she had been born and lived continuously for more than half a century to a newly constructed apartment in the town of Stanberry.  She made this move with grace and a positive outlook that came from a deep faith in the ultimate goodness of God.  She remained a faithful member of the Island City Christian Church even in the face of physical infirmity and after a short illness, she died on July 18, 1976, with a prayer on her lips.

1. K. Bovaird, N. Newman, E. Miller, B. Phillips, N. Summa, and R. Pierce, Once Upon a Railroad, Stanberry, Missouri 1879-1979, Inter-Collegiate Press, Shawnee Mission, KS, 1979: pg. 245.
     "Homer and Angie Evans   J. Homer, son of James J. and Mary Welch Evans, and, Angie, daughter of John A. and Delilah Russell Johnson, were married in 1915.  They spent all of their married life on a farm southwest of Stanberry.  After Homer's death, Angie lived at Stanberry's Friendly Heights Apartments.
     Angie attended college in Maryville and taught in Stanberry one year before her marriage.  Homer's lifetime calling was farming.
     They had four sons, three of whom served in World War II: Vernon, in the Navy; Russell, as a meteorologist; and Kenneth, a bomber pilot in the Air Corps.  One son, Harold, died at birth.
     Vernon married Velma Kemp of King City and worked as a storekeeper and forTWA until his death in 1957.  Marilyn and Stanley are their children.
     Russell married Laurel Hastings.  They live near Stanberry, and he is a preacher and farmer.  Their sons are David and Timothy.
     Kenneth married Betty Pickett of Russell, Kansas, graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia, and is a highway engineer living at Limon, Colorado.  Steven is their son.
     There are also two daughters: Lorene, who graduated from Northwest MIssouri State Teacher's College and taught in several states, most recently in Phoenix, Arizona, where she retired and now lives; and Margie, who was a telephone operator and married Roy Duley.  They live near Lawson, Missouri, and Roy works for TWA.  Their children are David, Rick, Bill and Linda.
     Homer and Angie were faithful members of the Island City Christian Church where they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1965, and where both of their memorial services were held, his in 1971 and hers in 1976.   Submitted by Laurel Evans"
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Additional Citations:

2. 1920 US Census Population Schedule for Gentry County, Missouri, National Archives, Washington DC:  pg. 67A, (microfilm: roll T625_919; img. 702).

3. 1930 US Census Population Schedule for Gentry County, Missouri, National Archives, Washington DC:  pg. 76A, (microfilm: roll T626_1188; img. 153).

4. 1940 US Census Population Schedule for Gentry County, Missouri, National Archives, Washington DC:  pg. 89B, (microfilm: roll T627_2106; img. 542).

5. Don Raymond,"High Ridge Cemetery", unpublished. (Gentry County MOGenWeb Archives, 2005.)

7. High Ridge Cemetery, Gentry County, Missouri (www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&CRid=1367686&CScn=High+Ridge&CScntry=4&CSst=26&CScnty=1434&, continuously updated).

8. Nadine McCampell, Johnson Family History, The Printery, Albany, MO, 1982: pgs. 145-54.

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