Belle Johnson

Clara Belle Pugh Johnson, age 93 of Gatesville, passed away on Sunday, November 25, 2018 in Gatesville. Funeral services will be held at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, November 29, 2018 at Scott’s Funeral Home with Rev. Matt Dossey officiating.  Burial will follow at Restland Cemetery.  Visitation with the family will be from 4 to 6:00 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Belle was born March 11, 1925, in Patroon in Shelby County, Texas.  She was the daughter of the late Eugene Emerson and Leah Evalina Baker Paugh. She moved across the Sabine River to Noble, Sabine Parish, Louisiana, to live on the family farm near her Baker and Pugh grandparents when she was six months old. She attended school in Noble, Louisiana until the age of 16.  She visited her mother’s sister Kate in west Texas, to work on her Uncle Hughs farm in order to buy new school clothes. While there she met her future husband, Willie Johnson in the cotton patch, when he came to work for her uncle.  She married Willie in Stanton, Texas on November 22, 1941 after a whirlwind courtship. They returned to Coryell County soon after, to attend Willie’s grandfathers funeral. After stints of work building the new Camp Hood in south Coryell County, the draft called Willie to war in 1942 and Belle remained with her Johnson in-laws in Jonesboro, for the duration of the war.  After the war, Willie and Belle set up house-keeping near Jonesboro, but there were disasters waiting. First a boarding house burned, then the small house they bought on the Box farm burned. Soon, they each determined to go to school.  Belle attended college in Clifton for a while before Willie’s jobs led them to east Texas. There, she attended Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, while working as a nurse attendant at Rusk State Hospital.  Following her husband’s career to other locations in Texas, Willis, Hamilton, Pottsville, Center, Jacksonville, Rusk, Waco, Crawford and Rosebud, they finally settled on the farm at Ater, Texas in 1963. It was then time to go back and finish her degree in education at Mary Hardin Baylor University in Belton. As she worked at the Gatesville school system and the State School for Boys, she continued her education, completing a Master’s in Education and in Criminal Justice. She completed her career working for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.   Belle was a member and Past Worthy Matron of The Order of the Eastern Star, serving in the stations leading to her role as an officer in the Grand Lodge of Texas as well as local chapters.  She was a member of First Baptist Church of Gatesville, where she taught the Ruth class for many years as well as a member of Women’s Missionary Union.  She was an avid reader, loved the water, riding horses in her younger years, visiting with friends and working in her yard. She was preceded in death by her husband of 75 years, Willie in 2017; infant twin daughters, Glenda Mae and Linda Fay; parents, Eugene and Evalina (Baker)Pugh; granddaughter, Donna Gould; sisters, Alliwese Oliver, Doris Fulghum, Anginita Tims; brothers, Donald Pugh, Laurence Eugene (Buckshot) Pugh and Jackie Rudolph (Rud) Pugh. She is survived by a daughter, Carol Johnson of El Reno, Oklahoma; son, Bob Johnson and wife, Ruth Ann of Gatesville; sister, Jimmie Peterson of El Paso; seven grandchildren, including Lois Richardson, that was raised as a daughter and Anjanette (A.J.) Holladay, Ann Marie Gould, Laurie Johnson, Jeremy Johnson, Eric Johnson and Kerri Johnson; 20 great-grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren; and many nephews, nieces, cousins and friends. Memorials may be made to the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor @ go.umhb.edu/giving or the Levita Volunteer Fire Department.