Modena Maurine Pair Johnson

(January 23, 1907 - May 20, 2007)

Modena Maurine Pair Johnson, daughter of Lounds Davis Pair and Johnnie Myrtle Gibson, married to Silas Bailey Johnson and buried in Oplin Cemetery, Oplin, Callahan County, Texas.  Rogers School District Teacher (1930-1934).

Tyler - Modena Maurine Pair Johnson, 100, of Tyler and formerly of Clyde, passed away Sunday, May 20, 2007 at a Tyler Care Center.

Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the First United Methodist Church of Clyde with Dr. Wayne Berryman of Tyler officiating. Burial will follow in the Oplin Cemetery under the direction of Bailey Funeral Home.

Modena was born January 23, 1907 in Dublin, Texas to Lounds Davis and Johnnie Myrtle (Gibson) Pair. She grew up in Strawn, Texas. She attended Tarleton College and later graduated from McMurry College. She was a longtime schoolteacher, beginning in Rogers for three years, then teaching in Oplin for one year, then in Baird for two years and then in Clyde for twenty-four years. She was a grade-school, junior high, and high school teacher.

On September 6, 1927, she married Bailey Johnson of Oplin in Abilene. Mr. Johnson was a longtime Superintendent of Clyde High School. He preceded her in death in 1972. During the school years of Bailey and Modena, they left an outstanding and long-lasting impression on many students.

Modena had previously been a member of The Bailey Circle, The Thursday Club and the Historical Society prior to failing health. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Clyde. In March of 2000, she moved to Tyler to live with her daughter, Carolyn Johnson Kniffen.

She had three children - Madeline Johnson Newton and husband, J. W. of Weatherford, Texas, Tommy Lounds Johnson (Deceased) and wife, Lois of Bloomfield, N.M., and Carolyn Johnson Kniffen and husband, Fred of Tyler.

She is survived by eight grandchildren, nineteen great-grandchildren, five great-great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.

On January 23, 2007, she celebrated her 100th birthday, with all her family attending, and she received over 70 cards and letters from former students and friends.

Pallbearers will be Dr. James B. Newton, Grady Newton, Mark Glasshof, Miles Moore, Travis Clardy, Dale Kniffen, Jeff Scholl and Micky Navarro.

Visitation will be from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday at Bailey Funeral Home.

The family asks that remembrances be sent to the Bailey Johnson Scholarship Fund at the First Financial Bank of Clyde, Hospice of East Texas or to the charity of your choice.

Obituary from Abilene Reporter News