Louise M. Johnson

Please click here to view the live stream of the funeral service.  The live stream of the funeral service for Ms. Louise M. Johnson will begin at 3:00pm on Sunday, July 2, 2023.

Louise Maehler Johnson was born February 19, 1928 in Washington, DC. Her parents were Ernest and Nancy Poland Maehler, and she had one older brother, Charles. She played the piano from an early age, and was a faithful member of Metropolitan Baptist Church (now Capitol Hill Baptist). She accepted Christ as her personal Savior while still a young girl. Louise graduated from Eastern High School in 1945, and Wheaton College (Illinois) in 1949.

In 1950, she married Robert Johnson, whom she had known from about the age of 12. Robert and Louise went to the mission field in Java, Indonesia in 1954, where they spent 10 years, by which time they had four children. They returned to the US in 1964 due to health issues.

Robert became a language analyst at NSA, and they moved to Bowie and raised their family. Besides being a busy mother, a good cook, and a whiz at Scrabble, Louise was an avid gardener—she especially enjoyed roses, as well as her carefully tended vegetable garden.

Robert and Louise also faithfully served in their small church, DC Christian Fellowship, in countless ways. Louise was the sole pianist for many years, and was of practical and spiritual help to many of the younger women in the church. She loved the Bible, and always encouraged her children and others to memorize scripture.

She particularly loved the Psalms, which were a great comfort and strength to her in her old age, especially as Robert needed more and more of her care as his health declined. She cared for him in their home until his death. In her last years she often expressed that her greatest hope was that she would soon go to be with the Lord Jesus, and so her family are rejoicing— with tears—that at the age of 95 she has been granted her heart’s desire.

She is survived by her four children: Nancy Cox, Steve Johnson, Anne Armstrong, and Becky Felter, as well as 13 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren.